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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (63874)	12/31/2002 12:19:18 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Russia Says Bush to Blame for North Korea Crisis Mon December 23, 2002 02:42 PM ET By Andrei Shukshin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused President Bush on Monday of having ignited a crisis over North Korea by antagonizing the nuclear-capable Stalinist state and playing on its dire economic situation. Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Bush was to blame for North Korea's erratic policies, including steps to unfreeze its nuclear program, because of his decision to brand it part of his "axis of evil" of hostile nations. "How should a small country feel when it is told that it is all but part of forces of evil of biblical proportions and should be fought against until total annihilation?" Mamedov told the Vremya Novostei daily newspaper. Russia's Foreign Ministry Monday expressed Moscow's official regret over Pyongyang's statement at the weekend that it had begun removing U.N. monitoring equipment at a nuclear reactor capable of yielding weapons-grade plutonium. In Washington, the State Department called the suggestion that Bush was to blame for Pyongyang's behavior "absurd" and noted that Mamedov's assessment contrasted with the official reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry. "That's totally absurd," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told reporters. "North Korea has taken its actions ... North Korea is the country responsible for deepening its isolation with (its) recent actions." But Mamedov made clear that he believed the blame lay with Bush in some of the sharpest comments Russia has made against the United States since it joined Washington's war on terror after last year's September 11 attacks. "There is no use expecting countries included in the 'axis of evil' to remain passive. By reacting they may naturally break certain international agreements," said Mamedov. "But it would be unfair to blame them for spurring the whole crisis. The responsibility should be shared by those who launch a campaign of intimidation and those who see it as a pretext to violate international agreements." Russia preaches cooperation as the best way to tempt Pyongyang out of its isolation and has built a pragmatic relationship with the North after a decade of coolness that marked the end of fraternal ties of the Soviet era. WEST URGES NORTH KOREA TO STEP BACK The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed concern at North Korea's weekend move and the West urged Pyongyang to step back and cooperate fully with the IAEA. In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said it hoped Pyongyang would pursue its ties with the IAEA and stick to its nuclear non-proliferation obligations. It also called on all parties concerned to show restraint and keep up a dialogue. Mamedov said the move by North Korea, an impoverished communist state short of food and fuel oil, should have come as no surprise to the United States. "Blackmailing North Korea with its difficult economic situation is counter-productive, it is dangerous," he said. Pyongyang has accused Washington and its allies of triggering the crisis. Under a 1994 deal with the United States, North Korea froze its reactors in exchange for shipments of oil and the construction of proliferation-proof reactors. The United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union halted oil supplies after Washington said the North had admitted defying the 1994 agreement, and other international commitments, with a program to develop highly-enriched uranium. A Russian nuclear arms expert said Monday that Pyongyang possibly had enough plutonium to make several low-yield nuclear bombs, but still faced major problems in making them work. "North Korea lacks the necessary technology to build certain components, such as detonators to explode nuclear devices, and some others," Sergei Kazennov, of the Institute of World Economy and International relations, told Itar-Tass news agency. reuters.com