Korean Government Sets for Tuning the Measures to Solve the North`s WMD with U.S., Japan, and China

The Korean Government decided to establish an international cooperation system to solve the North Korea`s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with the U.S., Japan, and China in advance of the U.S. President George W. Bush`s visit to Korea and set for tuning the positions of each country. The U.S. is also carefully considering resuming the dialogue channel to solve the problem through the dialogue with the North.

Government`s Diplomatic Contacts: Giving priority to the strengthening of the Korea-U.S. alliance in order to prevent any possible disagreed opinion about the North Korean policies at the Korea-U.S. summit, the Korean government is trying to set up concrete cooperative measures among the allied nations to resolve the issues related with the early nuclear inspection and WMD that has requested by the U.S. government.

A classified document of the government, `Special Policy Report In Relation To the U.S. President Bush`s Visit To Korea` describes that "the remarks related to the Korean Peninsula must be leveled by the pre-adjustment of Korea, the U.S. and Japan in advance, and the preparation should be something that China also would support. The cooperative system in terms of the early inspection by IAEA, the issues about WMD, missiles, and the conventional weapons, needs to be strengthened."

The document indicated that "it cannot be ignored that there are possibilities of `hard-line remarks` at the Japan-U.S. summit. In such case, Korea should prepare the measures in advance for the elevation of hard-line stance of the U.S. against the North Korea."

The document also proposed that "the hard-line remarks of Bush and the aggravation of the NK-U.S. relationship may increase the possibility for the 2nd Inter-Korean summit. For this purpose, Korean government needs to search for an indirect way through the mediation of the Chinese government."

NK-U.S. Moves For Dialogue: With regard to the remarks of Bush that he defined the North as an axis of evil in addition to Iraq and Iran, Park Yeon-Gil, the NK`s ambassador to UN, stated that "the dialogue or hostile relationship between NK and the U.S. totally depends on the U.S.`s decision."

Ambassador Park denounced the statement of Bush as `nothing but the declaration of war` but emphasized "NK is always ready to resume to talk with the U.S. and the dialogue must be based on equal mutuality without any pre-condition."

He also added, "Would the Inter-Korean dialogue be possible if the hostile policy and the mood of the U.S. intervene into the Inter-Korean relationship?"

In relation, "high ranking official of the U.S. commented that we wish that the North would recognize that there is no different opinion about the North Korean policy between the South and the U.S. after observing the Korea-U.S. summit."

Meanwhile, Asahi Shimbun reported that the representative of the working groups of the North and the U.S. met with each other even after the Bush`s remarks of the `axis of evil`.The meeting was made through a channel between the North`s Mission in UN and the U.S. State Department but the details about the dates and participants were not released.

Hyung-Kwon Pu bookum90@donga.com