South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday reaffirmed their previous stance not to tolerate North Korea's nuclear program during a summit held on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Roh's spokesman said.
"Roh and Bush held their seventh summit and agreed that a North Korean status as a nuclear state is intolerable," spokesman Yoon Tae-young said.
"They still stressed peaceful and diplomatic means in the settlement of the North Korean nuclear problem and shared the understanding that it is important to produce a practical outcome from the upcoming round of the six-party talks."
Following the one-hour summit, Roh told reporters that he and Bush agreed on the need to push for the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program.
"I and President Bush agreed that the United Nations sanctions resolution 1718 should be faithfully implemented," Roh said, referring to the U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea on Oct. 14 to bar its trade of nuclear materials and weapons of mass destruction.
With regard to the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) meant to interdict North Korean shipments of nuclear materials, Roh said, "South Korea is not fully participating in the PSI, but supports its purpose and principle. We'll cooperate in the U.S. bid to deter nuclear proliferation on a case-by-case basis."
Bush also said that North Korea would be given some incentives if it is willing to give up its nuclear weapons and ambition. He then reiterated his determination to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem peacefully.
Roh and Bush were to hold a tripartite summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later in the day to discuss how to compel North Korea to follow the Sept. 19, 2005 denuclearization agreement, according to Roh's aides.
"At the three-way talks, Roh, Bush and Abe will intensively discuss ways to lead North Korea to abide by its obligations stated in the Sept. 19 agreement," Song Min-soon, South Korea's foreign minister nominee and Roh's current chief security policy secretary, told reporters.
"The resumption of the six-way denuclearization talks is important. But more important is the implementation of the Sept. 19 agreement. That's the focus of the talks."
On Sept. 19, last year, North Korea signed a widely heralded denuclearization agreement and pledged to "abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs." In return, the other members of the six-party talks agreed to respect the North's sovereignty and offer security guarantees and economic benefits.
North Korea, which successfully tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9, has recently agreed to return to the six-party talks, which will likely restart in early December.
On arriving in this Vietnamese capital Friday, Bush urged full implementation of the U.N. sanctions.
"We have a chance to solve the North Korean issue peacefully and diplomatically. It is important for the world to see that the U.N. Security Council resolutions are implemented," Bush told reporters. "It (the APEC summit) is also a chance to set the conditions right so that the six-party talks will succeed."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said the United States is not willing to live with a nuclear North Korea. "No one is prepared to recognize North Korea as a nuclear power. Everybody is going to work both diplomatically and through sanctions to reverse the North Korean program," she told reporters here.
Hanoi, Nov. 18 (Yonhap News)
Roh, Bush agree not to recognize N. Korea as nuclear state |
