- (Agencies) -- As the South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun,
prepared today to meet his US counterpart, George Bush, in Washington,
North Korea reiterated on US television that it had nuclear weapons and
intended building more.
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- "I should say that we have enough nuclear bombs
to defend against a US attack. As for specifically how many we have, that
is a secret," North Korea's deputy foreign minister, Kim Gye Gwan,
told the ABC network.
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- He added that Pyongyang was building more weapons, and
had the technology to fix nuclear warheads to its missiles. He denied,
however, that the warheads were a direct threat to the US.
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- "We don't have any intention at all of attacking
the US," Mr Kim responded when asked if the missiles had sufficient
range to do so. "So you can't even speculate about that kind of thing."
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- North Korea is widely believed to have enough weapons-grade
plutonium for half a dozen warheads, and has made recent moves that indicate
that it may be planning to enrich more.
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- Mr Kim's intervention appeared timed to coincide tomorrow's
meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Roh, at a time when cracks in the 50-year
alliance between Seoul and Washington have appeared, principally over how
to deal with North Korea.
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- International disarmament talks have been stalled since
June 2004, with Pyongyang insisting that it should be treated as a nuclear
power and citing "hostile" US policies as its reason for staying
away from the negotiating table.
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- It will be the fourth meeting between Mr Roh and Mr Bush
since the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation summit in Chile in November.
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- US officials claimed this week to have made progress
in talks with North Korean officials in New York, saying Pyongyang expressed
its commitment to the six-nation arms negotiations, which also include
China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. But no date was set for negotiations
to restart, and the South treated the development with scepticism.
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- Mr Roh and Mr Bush have divergent positions on North
Korea. The US views the North as a rogue regime at risk of proliferating
weapons of mass destruction and Mr Bush has branded it part of his "axis
of evil".
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- Mr Roh takes a more conciliatory stance, as South Korea
endeavours to coexist peacefully with its communist neighbour, according
to Peter Beck, the director of a Seoul-based thinktank.
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- "There are very serious strains in the relationship
[between Seoul and Washington]. The threat of divorce is real, both sides
are increasingly asking questions that weren't being asked a few years
ago," he said.
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- Mr Roh has come out against regime change in North Korea
and said such a possibility is unlikely, and he has expressed understanding
of the Pyongyang purported reasons for seeking nuclear weapons for self-defence.
He won presidential elections in 2002 with a pledge not to "kowtow
to the Americans".
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- In April, South Korea vetoed US military plans that would
give Washington command of forces on the Korean Peninsula should the government
in Pyongyang falls. Mr Roh also has expressed concern about reforms in
the US military to create a more flexible force, raising worries that they
could become embroiled in regional conflicts in Asia, in particular between
Taiwan and China.
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- Seoul also has refused US demands to share more of the
costs of the US deployment in South Korea.
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- "Since I became president there have been many changes
in the alliance between Korea and the United States, whether they are good
or bad are subject to interpretation," Mr Roh said yesterday.
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- He stressed, however, that his country's alliance with
Washington was the basis for its success as a democracy and market economy.
"This fact remains true today and will not change," he said.
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- South Korean media have noted that Mr Bush is yet to
invite Mr Roh to his Texas ranch, a courtesy extended his favourite world
leaders.
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- South Korea's Chosun Ilbo daily wrote today that the
presidents should not paper over their differences, but instead figure
out how they can work together to solve the North Korean nuclear issue.
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- "The whole world knows that there are differences
over North Korea between Seoul and Washington; that cannot be concealed
however hard they may try," the paper said.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2005
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,2763,1502842,00.html
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