U.S. Democrats hail South-North dialog

At the Democratic National Convention in the United States, the party has adopted a platform of forward engagement that supports dialog between South and North Korea and calls for solving the South-North problem through dialog prior to military involvement, according to foreign press reports.

Under the theme ¡°New take-off: we¡¯ve seen nothing yet,¡± the convention at the Los Angeles Staples Center, attended by nearly 40,000 representatives, passed the party platform for 2000. The platform specified that the new administration`s external policy would have a forward engagement if Al Gore is elected president in November. It expressed that problems would be solved through dialog and negotiation before they develop into a crisis.

In particular, the platform made it clear that the Korea-U.S. defense commitment would be observed while supporting the South-North Korean dialog, noting that the United States has contributed to the promotion of the South-North dialog and would concentrate on the defense of South Korea.

The platform stressed that the party would prevent the proliferation and testing of weapons of mass destruction by enemies of the United States. It also pointed out that the broad National Missile Defense program could start an armament race, noting that the United States should consider a limited NMD by taking the substance of threat, technical point, cost and arms reduction into consideration.