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US Needs Full Review Before Talks With DPRK: Bush
President George W. Bush said Wednesday that the United States will have to conduct a full review of it policy on the Korean peninsula before resuming negotiations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung at the White House, Bush said he had a " very good" and "very frank" discussion with Kim during the hour- long talks.
"I made it clear to the president we look forward to working toward peace on the (Korean) peninsula, ... I do have some skepticism about the leader of North Korea (DPRK), but that's not going to preclude us from trying to achieving the common objective, " Bush said.
"I also told the president (Kim) that we look forward to at some point in the future having a dialogue with the North Koreans (people of DPRK), but that any negotiation would require complete verification of the terms of a potential agreement," he added.
Kim, who arrived here on Tuesday for a four-day visit, said he and Bush covered a whole variety of issues in relations between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States.
"We have agreed to work together towards the further strengthening of the ROK-U.S. alliance and our close policy coordination in dealing with North Korea (DPRK) towards the goal of ending the cold war and strengthening peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Kim said.
Kim clarified that it did not reflect South Korean position on a U.S. plan to deploy National Missile Defense (NMD) system when South Korea and Russia issued a joint statement last week which described the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as "the cornerstone of strategic stability" in the world.
But the South Korean president also refrained from lending an explicit support to the controversial U.S. program which is widely perceived as a threat to global arms reduction efforts.
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