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US May Guarantee North Korea of Non-aggression in Writing

US May Guarantee North Korea of Non-aggression in Writing

Posted August. 08, 2003 21:42,   

한국어

The U.S. State Department made clear its willingness Thursday (local time) to push for a congressional guarantee after giving North Korea a security assurance in writing, a point at issue between the two countries.

“It is not a treaty nor agreement, but there are ways to assure the North of non-aggression through congressional resolutions or others,” said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a Q & A session with journalists at the State Department`s Foreign Press Center.

“There should be ways to capture assurance to the North Koreans from not only the United States, but we believe from other parties in the region, that there is no hostile intent among the parties that might be participating in such a discussion,” he added.

Powell`s remark is apparently the most progressed proposal so far, regarding a non-aggression pact.

At the same time, President Bush`s National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said in a meeting with journalists in Dallas, Texas, that the six-way talk will help persuade North Korea into giving up the nuclear development program.

Meanwhile, diplomats from South Korea, the United States, and Japan are expected to have an informal working-level meeting in Washington on August 13 and 14 before the six-way talks, the Sankei Shimbun reported.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, reporting from Washington, said the United States will propose a collective compensation on the assumption that the North gives up the nuclear weapons program instead of South Korea`s proposal of ‘roadmap’ to provide the impoverished country with gradual aid according to the degree of concession.

What the U.S. has in mind for compensation is to give an assurance of non-aggression, provide economic assistance through international institutions, resume and expand humanitarian aid, and back the North to join the global community, the paper added.

In the meantime, a Russian diplomat told the Japanese broadcaster NHK Thursday that North Korea will unconditionally take part in the six-nation meeting.

“After setting up a roadmap plan, a security guarantee, economic assistance, and humanitarian aids can be phased in,” he said.