U.S., Not Seeking Change of Regime toward N.K.

As the U.S. is showing a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea, attentions are concentrated on whether U.S.-North Korean dialogue will be resumed.

Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Defense Secretary said on June 30 that the U.S. is not seeking change of regime for the North and Iran, unlike in the case of Iraq.

Asked if the U.S. is helping the change of government in Iran, North Korean and Syria, which have interest in weapons of mass destruction and support terrorists from time to time, at a Defense Ministry briefing, on the same day, he answered that the policy applied only to Iraq.

It is the first time he, a hawkish toward N. K., says in public that the U.S. is not pursuing the overthrow of the current North Korean regime.

Saying that I might see Iranians take action against the Iran government in my life, but the overthrow of the Iranian government by other nations are not likely, he excluded the possibilities of anti-regime protests within the North.

“When I think of North Korean residents suffering from famine, those languishing at concentration camps and North Korean defectors, I cannot but commiserate them,” he said. “It’s very awful.”

The Washington Times, on the same day, quoted Sean McCormac, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council as saying the day before “As President Bush said before, we are ready to have serious and comprehensive talks with the communist country, if the North is willing to.”

According to Time magazine, the spokesman said that and added “We are considering steps which we can takes toward Pyongyang at the next stage.

Ki-Heung Han eligius@donga.com