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President Roh Moo Hyun holds a meeting at the Blue House on July 19
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Korean leader wants Chinese leader to help reduce regional tensions, sources say
With the U.S. and Japan mulling ways to strengthen pressure on North Korea, President Roh Moo-hyun and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao talked shop on the telephone yesterday. According to anonymous sources in the presidential office, presidents Roh and Hu discussed how to control growing tensions on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia after the passing of a U.N. Security Council resolution against the North and to resolve the current missile issue with dialogue. A key official of the Presidential office said, "I know that President Roh clarified the government’s position of opposing any stepping up of sanctions against the North, because such measures can raise tensions on the peninsula more than necessary. In addition, Roh asked Hu to persuade Pyongyang to come out to the six-party talks and to play a role to make the U.S. and Japan ease their hard-line stance." Roh’s phone conversation with the leader of China, the North’s closest ally, came as the presidential office decided how to cope with the passing of a U.N. resolution. Roh also wanted to show his strong will to create a positive mood for dialogue.On the contrary, the George W. Bush administration made it clear that it will strengthen multilateral economic sanctions against the North to press the nation to return to the negotiating table and to perform the tenets of the September 19, 2005 joint statement. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington Thursday that U.S. policies are not aimed at replacing the regime in Pyongyang, but pursuing changes in behaviors of the regime. The U.S. is considering the imposition of further economic and diplomatic sanctions and to take anti-proliferation measures, responding to the North’s missile launches, Secretary Hill added. Regarding measures that the U.S. can take, Hill mentioned to continuously strengthen activities of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and to maintain financial sanctions against North Korea. According to Hill, pressure means economic pressure and the U.S. alone cannot step up pressure on the North. The U.S. should cooperate with its partners, such as China and Japan, he said, which have bigger leverage for the North and which have ties with the communist nation in terms of finance and trade. In the meantime, Japan’s 24 regional governments cancelled or reduced tax benefits for facilities in connection with pro-Pyongyang organizations, according to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on July 20. The Nihon Geizai Shimbun reported yesterday that Japan’s shipping industry has pulled back from doing business with North Korean companies.
