US firm on North Korea

2005-11-17 10:31

Busan - United States president George W Bush and South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun set aside their differences on North Korea on Thursday and agreed that a nuclear-armed Pyongyang was unacceptable.

This follows a meeting between the two leaders in the ancient Korean capital of Gyeongju. The two leaders said that North Korea should "eliminate its nuclear weapons programmes promptly and verifiably."

"We re-iterated that a nuclear-armed North Korea will not be tolerated and re-affirmed that the issue should be resolved through peaceful and democratic means," said Roh.

Bush gave no ground on Washington's position that North Korea will not get the light-water atomic reactor it wants for producing energy until it has verifiably dismantled its nuclear weapons and the programmes to make them.

Leaders are committed to six-country talks

The two leaders also recommitted themselves to six-country talks - with the US, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan as partners in negotiations with North Korea. Roh said a new round should come as soon as possible.

The US president acknowledged "complexities" in the bilateral relationship but stressed that ties between Washington and Seoul had "never been better" and emphasised his support for eventually reuniting the two Koreas.

"I see a peninsula one day that is united and at peace," said Bush.

He praised South Korean democracy and its economy, and thanked Roh for sending some 3 000 troops in support of US efforts in Iraq - the third-largest contingent behind the United States and Britain.

Bush then lashed out at US opposition Democrats who have stepped up charges that he twisted intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and thereby convincing the US to go to war.

'I expect there to be criticism'

Asked whether he sided with US vice president Dick Cheney, who suggested that such criticisms undermine US forces on the front lines, or Republican senator Chuck Hagel, who called asking questions in time of war a patriotic duty, Bush wasted no time in answering: "The vice-president."

"I expect there to be criticism. But when Democrats say that I deliberately misled the congress and the people, that's irresponsible," said Bush , as US polls showed more and more Americans doubt his honesty.

Bush was in South Korea for talks with Roh, as well as the Asia-Pacific Econmic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit, which opens on Friday. He is to travel to China and Mongolia before returning to Washington.

On his week-long trip to Asia, Bush is to have consulted all the leaders in the six-party North Korean talks. He is to see Russian president Vladimir Putin in South Korea, and sit down in Beijing with Chinese president, Hu Jintao.

- AFP