Bush, Roh to discuss way forward on North Korea
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-17 09:37

US President George W. Bush was to meet with South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun in talks Washington hoped would reinforce unity of purpose in ending the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The two leaders were to hold talks at a lakeside resort in Gyeongju, the ancient capital of Korea, and hold a brief public appearance before Bush visits the Bulguksa Temple, one of South Korea's premier Buddhist shrines.

The two leaders were also to discuss the war in Iraq, where South Korea has the third largest troop contingent, as well as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit that opens in Busan Friday.

And they were expected to take up Washington's plans to cut back its troop presence in South Korea.

But the six-country talks aimed at ending the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs were expected to dominate the agenda, with the US president expected to argue for a hard line that Roh has resisted.

US President Bush and first lady Laura Bush descend the steps of Air Force One upon their arrival in Busan, South Korea November 16, 2005. [Reuters]

Bush, who branded Pyongyang an outpost of "isolation, backwardness, and brutality" on Wednesday, was expected to soften his position somewhat by expressing support for Roh's policy of reconciliation with the North.

"The president understands this is very important for the people of South Korea, and it's in the interest, ultimately, of the region and the US to have this reconciliation," Mike Green, the chief Asia hand on Bush's top national security council, told reporters late Wednesday.

"The idea is to have close cooperation and coordination so that these two tracks are mutually reinforcing. And that's a message I think both leaders will be conveying together," Green said.

Green said "the tone is different sometimes" in Washington and Seoul's comments because North Korea is "very much a clear and present threat" to the South.

Bush met Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and was to meet over the next few days with the leaders of China and Russia, who have partnered with South Korea and the United States in negotiations with North Korea.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after talks with her counterparts from Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo and Seoul that Pyongyang must "get serious" in talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

Rice expressed disappointment with Pyongyang's attitude in the last round of talks in Beijing, which ended in stalemate last week after North Korea suddenly raised new demands.

"The North Koreans need to have a different attitude and a different approach when they come to the next round," she told reporters on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan.

"I think the jury is out on whether the North Koreans are prepared to do what they need to do, which is to get serious about dismantlement and verification obligations that they undertook," she said.

At a previous round of talks in September, the parties issued a joint statement of principles in which North Korea promised to scrap its nuclear programs in exchange for energy assistance and other benefits.

But a day later North Korea insisted it would not dismantle its nuclear arsenal before the United States supplied it with a light-water atomic reactor to generate electricity.

The United States says North Korea must disarm first.

At last week's talks in Beijing, North Korea raised a new obstacle, accusing Washington of breaching the September agreement by imposing sanctions on its firms.