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Bush may visit South Korea in October
US President George W. Bush may visit South Korea in October before attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, newspapers said Monday.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the schedule for Bush's trip at talks last week with South Korean officials, the English-language daily Korea Herald said.
It quoted an unnamed official in Seoul as saying: "The date and other details have not been fixed. But US officials proposed Bush stay in Korea for two days between Oct. 17-19, before going to Shanghai for the APEC meting."
The South Korean government declined to confirm the report. The annual APEC summit in Shanghai is to attract leaders from 21 Asian and Pacific countries.
Bush may also visit Japan during his first trip to Asia, other newspapers in Seoul said, adding Bush's summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung would focus on DPRK.
The first summit between Bush and Kim was held in Washington in March, after Bush froze rapprochement talks between DPRK and the United States.
After a policy review, Bush said in June he was ready to re-engage Pyongyang but wanted any talks to cover the full scope of relations with dprk, including reductions in its armed forces.
Pyongyang has said it would not resume talks with Washington under the terms proposed by Bush. It has also accused the United States of fabricating threats from the country to justify US anti-missile defense plans.
The United States earlier this month conducted a successful test of a new missile interception system, triggering an angry response from DPRK, Russia and China.
Kim has urged Washington to actively engage DPRK as part of his efforts to resume stalled inter-Korean talks.
But the United States has been reluctant to follow Kim's demand, prompting concerns in Seoul that engagement with Pyongyang could run out of steam.
On Monday, Powell piled more pressure on DPRK for a reply to a US offer to resume dialogue.
"The Koreans are anxious to not see the momentum stop," Powell said on his plane headed for Australia.
"There is a concern that you would just sort of run into a flat period for a long period of time and that would not be in the interest of President Kim Dae-Jung's policy," he said.
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