Peaceful Settlement of North Korea Nuclear Crisis

U.S. President George W. Bush was reported to have promised to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue in a peaceful manner during his telephone conversation with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday night.

"President Bush telephoned me and promised a diplomatic effort to resolve the nuclear issue and said it would surely be settled in a peaceful manner. He also promised to consult and cooperate with the South Korean government and the Korean people in the whole process," Mr. Roh said in an event held to celebrate Arbor Day on Saturday.

"U.S. President Gorge W. Bush repeated the wording `resolve crisis in a diplomatic and peaceful way as I promised before.` His remarks represent his willingness to settle the crisis peacefully," said the presidential advisor for foreign policy, Ban Ki-mun.

Bush’s remarks this time are interpreted as a progress from his previous saying that "the U.S.’ basic policy is to explore all means in order to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula" and that we "do not exclude other options" during the phone discussion on March 13.

During the 20-minute telephone dialogue, which was held on April 4th at the request of the U.S., Mr. Bush thanked President Roh Moo-hyun for the South Korean parliament`s support of the dispatch of non-combat troops to the U.S.-led war on Iraq and he said he was looking forward to President Roh’s visit to Washington, Roh`s spokeswoman Song Kyung-hee said.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com