Kim-Bush Summit Produces Little Fruit on DPRK Issue

The Kim-Bush summit in Washington Thursday ended without settling their differences over how to deal with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

US President George W. Bush said he was skeptical about the DPRK leadership and needed solid verification that the DPRK's ability to develop and spread missiles was in fact stopped while he renewed his support for Kim Dae-jung's sunshine policy of reconciliation and cooperation with Pyongyang and Seoul's leading role on Korean peninsula issues.

"I told the president (Kim) that we're looking forward to at some point in the future having a dialogue with the North Koreans. But any negotiations would require complete verification of the terms," Bush said at a press conference after the summit.

Even more blunt, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington had no plans for an early resumption of talks with Pyongyang on missile issues as Washington is concerned that Pyongyang is shipping weapons of mass destruction around world.

"He (Bush) understands the nature of that regime, and won't be fooled by the nature of that regime," Powell said.

South Korean Presidential Spokesman Park admitted differing views between Seoul and Washington over the DPRK issue.

"The United States does have doubts and suspicions about North Korea, but the basic stance is that it will back and promote South Korea's engagement policy," Park said.

All these showed that the summit failed to make substantial progress over the two allies' disparity on the DPRK issue, said South Korean analysts.

However, at the press conference, President Kim said the biggest fruit of the summit was enhanced understanding through " exchange of frank and candid opinions on the Korean Peninsula affairs."

The two countries agreed to further solidify comprehensive partnership in security, political, economic and cultural fields.

The two leaders reaffirmed the need to continue implementation of the 1994 Agreed Framework, under which Washington, Tokyo and Seoul will supply two light-water reactors to the DPRK in exchange for its promise to stop nuclear program.

In particular, the summit removed the misunderstanding on the National Missile Defense (NMD) plan pushed by the Bush administration, which recently flared up after the S.Korea-Russia summit talks in Seoul last month.

The South Korean government expressed in a joint statement after the South Korean-Russian summit that it agreed to preserve and strengthen the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which the U.S. government wants amendment to build the NMD system against missile attacks from some "rogue states."

Kim said there was some misunderstanding about his position on the ABM treaty and that his government does not oppose the NMD.

It is expected to redirect Seoul's DPRK policy to a more " realistic position with full emphasis on caution and verification sought by the US administration, said observers.






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