The Hindu : U.S. pursuing hostile policies: N. Korea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 10, 2002

International

International

U.S. pursuing hostile policies: N. Korea

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Oct. 9. The United States has told the North Korean authorities that it wants to address its concerns through "dialogue''. However, Pyongyang remains furious over the ``confirmed'' message from Washington that there is no prospect of North Korea being removed from the dubious roll-call of an "axis of evil'', any time soon.

The latest diplomatic shadow-boxing of this magnitude follows the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, James Kelly's return to Washington after intensive talks in Pyongyang. In comments this week, the North Korean Foreign Ministry has debunked the recent Kelly mission stating, "it has been confirmed that the Bush administration refuses to de-list the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a member of the axis of evil'' and as an alleged "target'' of America's supposed policy of launching a "pre-emptive nuclear attack''.

Pyongyang characterised the U.S. position relating to the "axis of evil'' as a "unilateral hardline policy of hostility towards the DPRK'' (North Korea's official name).

Hinting that the Kim Jong-il regime in Pyongyang had expected the Kelly mission to make a positive difference to the confrontational U.S.-DPRK ties, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said America's "unchanged policy'' of hostility would only produce a backlash. The U.S. attitude ``compels the DPRK to take all necessary counter-measures'', it was underlined, although there was no immediate and credible indication of what these counter-steps might be. The Bush administration was not really pursuing a policy of dialogue contrary to the professions made on the eve of the Kelly mission, North Korea claimed.

In raising certain "issues of concern'', Mr. Kelly had only betrayed America's "high-handed and arrogant attitude''. The North Korean version is that the ranking American official maintained that the enormous differences marking North Korea's ties with the U.S. as also with Japan "would be smoothly settled" only on one condition. By North Korea's account, Mr. Kelly insisted that the DPRK should at first meet America's unilateral demands. These demands pertained to North Korea's profiles concerning such issues as "nuclear arms, missiles, conventional armed forces and human rights''.

America's "hardline policy of hostility'', as reflected by such demands, was designed to "bring the DPRK to its knees by force and high-handed practice'', Pyongyang claimed. Significantly, the only common denominator that characterises the separate versions of the U.S. and North Korea over the Kelly mission is the DPRK's identification of Washington's "concerns''.

According to a U.S. State Department official, the trend lines of the Kelly mission are in conformity with the seriousness of America's differences with North Korea. The frankness that marked Mr. Kelly's talks in Pyongyang "befits'' the ground realities, the U.S. official has said. Diplomats in the Asia-Pacific region expect the North Korean question to be discussed during a trilateral summit involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan later this month. It is in this context that South Korea today outlined a policy option of helping the DPRK transform itself in a ``stable'' fashion.

Japan, which has already been briefed by Mr. Kelly, indicated that it was now beginning to clear the decks for the resumption of normalisation talks with North Korea. Towards this end, a Japanese official said, Tokyo was considering the option of sending a second fact-finding mission to North Korea to investigate the cases relating to Pyongyang's abduction of some Japanese nationals during the Cold War. The surviving Japanese, numbering five, among those so abducted are expected to visit Japan to meet their families prior to any resumption of talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

Iraq will not bend, declares Saddam

U.S. pushes E.U. membership for Turkey

U.S. resolution may be delayed

Russian census mired in controversy

India will not raise U.N. seat issue at E.U. summit

BBC reporter makes legal history

U.S. pursuing hostile policies: N. Korea

Pak. elections go hi-tech

Elect genuine leaders: Musharraf

4 killed in police firing in Sri Lanka