U.S. Denies Conflict Over North Korean Nuclear Issue with South Korea

The U.S. Department of State strongly denied the possibility of a policy rift between South Korea and the U.S. on Thursday, which reared its head after South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said that “nuclear development for peaceful purposes is a general right that North Korea is entitled to.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Adam Ereli said in his daily press briefing, “There`s no rift between the United States and South Korea. We are close allies. We are close partners…in our common approach to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.” When asked if what Minister Chung said was something different from the U.S. policy, Ereli avoided addressing the question directly by saying, “I`m not going to speak for the South Korean unification minister.”

Also, when he was asked whether he was just saying, “everything is rosy-rosy with the South Koreans” on policy cooperation, Ereli simply answered, “I think what you`re seeing emerging from the 13 days of talks is a set of common goals, or an emerging set of common goals and common approaches [on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula].”

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com