Bush administration discloses six North Korea policy guidelines

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher announced on Thursday six primary considerations in Washington`s North Korea policy.

He told a regular briefing that these guidelines were contained in the remarks of Secretary of State Colin Powell during the Senate confirmation hearings and in the joint statement that was issued and the end of the summit between President Kim Dae-Jung and U.S. President George W. Bush.

The most important point concerns U.S. consultations with its allies like South Korea and Japan in their joint pursuit of North Korea policy, he said. The second is support voiced for President Kim`s policy of reconciliation with North Korea, and the third calls for realism with respect to the Pyongyang regime and aims to explore the nature of the communist leadership and its limited gestures of opening up at this stage.

He said the fourth is that North Korea policy is under general review at present, the fifth requires monitoring and verification and the sixth concerns doubts about the proliferation of North Korean weapons programs.

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com