President Bush Rejects North Korea’s Proposal to Freeze Nuclear Program

On December 9 (local time), U.S. President George W. Bush rejected North Korea’s proposal to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. removing all sanctions against North Korea and providing energy aid including the supply of heavy fuel oil and electricity.

With the rejection, another round of six-nation talks within this year seems unlikely.

President Bush spoke at a news conference after his meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the White House and emphasized, “The goal of the United States is not for a freeze of the nuclear program. The goal is to dismantle the nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible way.”

At the welcoming ceremony before the meeting, President Bush said that the U.S. and China want stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula. He added that to achieve this goal, North Korea must dismantle the nuclear program.

According to a senior U.S. official, Premier Wen sensed that China does not believe the point for new talks has been reached yet.

Another senior official explained, “President Bush wanted to emphasize that he is not interested in a freeze of nuclear program but wants North Korea to dismantle nuclear program in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.”

The official stressed, “We expect that North Korea has seen a considerable amount of additional progress in its nuclear program, and this is a mutual concern for all participants of the six-nation talks, including China and the U.S.”

maypole@donga.com