`Resumption of Dialogue. NK And US Is Optimistic, the MD Issue Should Be Focused`

Senator Joseph Biden, a Democrat from Delaware and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told on 11th that the future dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. should focus the issue of the long-range missile development rather than the NK`s conventional military weapon.

Accompanied by Democrat Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, Republican Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Senator Biden clearly expressed his opposition to President George Bush who included the conventional military weapons in the agenda for the dialogue with North Korea, in the press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Seoul.

Chairman Biden added that ``Just after the U.S. administration finished the review on the policy toward North Korea, I delivered the same opinion to the President Bush, while discussing the issues around the Korean peninsula for an hour.``

Regarding the issue of the U.S. Forces in Korea, Chairman Biden told that ``as long as the Korean government wants, the U.S. Forces in Korea should remain in the Korean peninsula.`` ``Chinese President Jiang Zemin also told that the Chinese government did not oppose the U.S. forces to be stationed in the Korean peninsula and Japan.`` he added.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is a very crucial figure who can wield the tremendous influence over the U.S.`s major foreign policies.

Regarding the conflict between Korea and the U.S. over the North Korea policy, Chairman Biden prospected that ``in the beginning of the Bush administration, there was some conflict between Korea and the U.S.. But since I found out at the meeting with President Bush that the conflict did not result from the intention, there won`t be any problem in the cooperation between Korea and the U.S..``

And concerning the resumption of the NK-US dialogue, he said that ``in deploying the missile defense (MD) system, North Korea is the greatest concern for the U.S. I have an optimistic view on the resumption of the NK-US dialogue.``

Meanwhile, about the South Korea`s electric power supply, Evans Revere, the U.S. deputy ambassador to Korea who participated in the press conference, told that ``the U.S. never opposed to the electric power supply by South Korea. The issue has never been discussed seriously between two Koreas. As far as I know, the South Korean investigation team tried to enter North Korea for the electric power supply, the North Korean government refuted.``

After the press conference, the U.S. delegation visited President Kim Dae-Jung and exchanged the opinions on the South Korea`s policy toward North Korea, and the resumption of the NK-US dialogue. President Kim told in a meeting with the U.S. delegation that ``it is desirable for the U.S. to hold talks with North Korea as soon as possible.``

The U.S. delegation left Seoul, after visiting a demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Panmunjeom in the afternoon on 11th.

Shin Chi-Young higgledy@donga.com