Letters Between Bush and Kim “Significant” Says NY Times

The exchange of letters between U.S. President George W. Bush and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was a significant departure from the hostile stance that characterized the Bush administration, the New York Times reported on December 15.

The New York Times article elaborated that in response to President Bush’s letter delivered by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill when he visited North Korea this month, North Korea sent a reply reaffirming that as long as the U.S. keeps its promises, it will do the same.

The White House announced earlier that it received Kim Jong Il’s oral promise to dismantle the North Korean nuclear program through the North Korean representative office to the United Nations in New York.

In the Rose Garden at the White House on December 14, Bush once again urged the North to come clean with its nuclear program, “With my letter to Kim I succeeded in getting his attention. The North Korean leader will have my attention by declaring all existing nuclear programs, including extracted plutonium and alleged nuclear proliferation.”

The Times also reported that the U.S. wants North Korea to tell the truth about its role in the construction of Syrian nuclear facilities that was under increasing attention after the Israeli aerial bombing in September.

zsh75@donga.com