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Bush, S. Korea Try to Bridge Differences

Posted on: Friday, 10 June 2005, 15:00 CDT

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun sought to bridge their differences on Friday over how to coax North Korea back to disarmament talks. "We'll continue to work to have one voice," Bush said. But Roh said some disagreements remain.

"There are one or two minor issues, but I'm certain we will be able to work them out with dialogue," Roh told reporters in the Oval Office.

North Korea has boycotted the six-nation talks on its nuclear program for nearly a year.

The Bush administration has appealed to both China and South Korea to do more to persuade Pyongyang to rejoin the talks and has hinted that it might seek U.N. sanctions if the reclusive communist regime continues to pursue nuclear arms.

But South Korea, which is in the process of improving ties with the North, has taken a softer stance, shows little enthusiasm for going to the U.N. Security Council, and opposes a military option.

"South Korea and the United States share the same goal, and that is a Korean peninsula with no nuclear weapons," Bush said.

North Korea has sent mixed signals on whether it will return to the talks, which also include the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Earlier this week, North Korean diplomats indicated they were willing to rejoin the talks, but set no date. A North Korean official later boasted that the communist regime already has a nuclear stockpile, and was making more weapons.

Bush said that despite such talk, he was hopeful that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could be persuaded to send a delegation back to the talks and to abandon nuclear ambitions.

"The (South Korean) president and I both agree the six-party talks are essential to saying to Mr. Kim Jong Il that he ought to give up his weapons, and making it very clear to him that the way to join the community of nations is to listen to China and South Korea and Japan and Russia and the United States, and that is to give up nuclear weapons," Bush said.

Bush offered no new inducements to the reclusive nation, saying trade and economic incentives contained in a U.S.-backed offer made last June stand.

"We laid out a way forward last June and it's a reasonable proposal and we're still awaiting the answer to that proposal," Bush said.

Still, it was clear that Bush and Roh hadn't bridged all their differences.

"There are, admittedly, many people who worry about potential discord or cacophony" between the United States and South Korea on the issue, Roh said, speaking through a translator. But, he added, "whatever problem arises in the course of our negotiations and talks, we will be able to work them out under close consultations."

"There indeed is no difference between our two sides with regard to the basic principles," Roh said. He repeated the phrase "basic principles" several times.

After his remarks to reporters, Roh turned to Bush, seated beside him, and posed a question: "How do you feel, Mr. President? Wouldn't you agree that the alliance is strong?"

"I would say the alliance is very strong, Mr. President," Bush responded. "And I want to thank you for your frank assessment of the situation on the peninsula."

Bush opened his remarks by expressing "my country's deepest condolences" on the accidental death of a 51-year-old Korean woman who was killed when she was struck by a U.S. military truck near Seoul.

Efforts to draw North Korea back to disarmament talks are being complicated by recent diplomatic strains with South Korea and China. Boasts by the North of its atomic bomb capability and harsh rhetoric by American officials aren't helping, analysts suggest.

Ties between Washington and Seoul are further stressed by disagreements over how to reshape their 50-year-old military alliance. The U.S. has about 32,500 troops in South Korea but is reducing that number to about 24,500 in the coming years.

North Korea is widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for a half-dozen nuclear bombs. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan told ABC News earlier this week that North Korea did have a nuclear arsenal, and was increasing it.

"Such steps and comments only further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Thursday.

But some critics suggested that harsh words from American officials were giving the North an excuse to shun the talks.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during a visit to Asia last week that North Korea was "a living hell" for all but its elite. A week earlier, Vice President Dick Cheney called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "one of the world's most irresponsible leaders," drawing scathing protests from Pyongyang.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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