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U.S. Wants Putin to Discuss Missile Program with DPRK
The United States said Monday that it hoped Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss with the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) its missile program, over which Washington shows grave concern despite its own plan of deploying the theater missile defense system in the region.
President Putin will make a state visit to the DPRK Wednesday and hold talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il before his departure for Okinawa to attend a G8 summit.
President Bill Clinton's deputy national security adviser, Jim Steinberg, said Putin's visit to Pyongyang would make a positive contribution to regional security.
"We very much hope and expect that when President Putin meets with Kim Jong-Il, he will reiterate the message the rest of the international community is giving, which is one to welcome steps towards reconciliation between North and South (Koreas) and to encourage North Korea to take steps to deal particularly with its missile program," he said.
Last week, Putin implied, but did not directly spell out, that he would raise the DPRK's missile program when holding talks with Kim Jong-Il. But he also made it very clear that Russia opposes the U.S. anti-missile plan in the region.
Putin said the best way to prevent missile use in the Korean Peninsula was to guarantee security for the DPRK.
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