Specific Position Not Pressured on the Roh Administration

Collin Powell, the United State`s Secretary of State, will be visiting South Korea for two days starting from the 24th to attend the Roh Mu-hyun, the President-elect`s Presidential Inaugural ceremony. However, a high officer of the Department of State clarified on the 20th that Powell will not suggest President Roh`s new Administration to have specific positions on the issues related to the North Korea`s nuclear crisis.

This officer clarified the above before the Secretary of State Powell`s visit to the three countries of Korea, China and Japan, and stated, “Secretary Powell will strive to construct a general basis for an united view when he meets with President Roh.”Moreover, this officer also stated, “We will give time for the President Roh`s Administration to construct a fundamental frame of the North Korean policy and then will discuss the North Korea`s nuclear crisis with South Korea.”

The Department of State clarified that the primary purpose of Secretary Powell`s tour of the Northeast Asia is to attend the President-elect, Roh`s Presidential Inauguration. Secretary Powell is planning to meet up with the President-elect, Roh, and the new government`s General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as requesting Roh to visit the United States once again.

In regards to the issues of Korea and the United State`s alliance as well as the rearrangement of the United States Army Force in Korea, a personnel of the Department of State commented,“With considerations on the economical and the political situations, we will strongly display the necessity of maintaining a deterrent against North Korea by closely cooperating with South Korea`s new government. The representatives of the Department of State and the Department of Defense will visit Korea to start the discussion right after the beginning of the new government in South Korea.”

He also added, “Secretary Powell will send his gratitude to the President-elect, Roh, for presenting many positive statements such as his statement about not tolerating the North Korea`s possession of the nuclear weapons.”

And regarding the food supply to North Korea, he stated, “We do not use food as a weapon. The only problem of the food supply to North Korea is that there isn`t an adequate control over the food provided by the World Food Program.”

On one side, Secretary Powell will send his gratitude to the leaders of Japan for the Japanese government`s ‘strong support’ in various fields as well as its support regarding the Iraq War.

maypole@donga.com