Bush says U.S., allies pursuing nuclear-free Korea through 'intensive' diplomacy

The United States and its allies are pursuing "intensive diplomacy" on the North Korean nuclear issue to free the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons, President George W. Bush said Tuesday in his State of the Union speech.

In his first annual speech to a Democratic Congress, Bush emphasized concerted efforts with other nations in resolving problems and crises, ranging from North Korea, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

"Together with our partners in China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, we are pursuing intensive diplomacy to achieve a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons," Bush said of Pyongyang, followed by applause from the audience.

Last year, Bush highlighted the spread of democracy, saying the U.S. will not turn its back to the plight of the people of North Korea and other oppressive regimes.

"And we do not forget the other half, in places like Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran, because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom as well," he had said.

Bush said the U.S. had the support of the international community in its struggles of today.

"Americans can have confidence in the outcome of this struggle -- because we are not in this struggle alone," he said.

Bush said there is a "diplomatic strategy" in Iraq, where multinational forces are operating under a U.N. mandate.

Additionally, he said that the U.N. has made it clear that the world will not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

The U.S. is also working with other parties to bring peace in the Middle East, Bush said.

"And we will continue to speak out for the cause of freedom in places like Cuba, Belarus and Burma, and continue to awaken the conscience of the world to save the people of Darfur," he said.

In his 2002 State of the Union speech, Bush had named North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and Iraq.

Pyongyang has been mentioned every year since then, with Bush calling North Korea an oppressive regime and its leader Kim Jong-il a tyrant.

The U.S. is a major player in the so-called six-party process, a denuclearization negotiation forum involving South and North Korea, China, Russia and Japan. The talks were revived late last year after more than a year of boycotts by Pyongyang, which accused Washington of harboring hostile intentions against North Korea.

"What he said (about North Korea) is not important. The important thing is what he didn't say," Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, said of Bush's speech.

"When he talked about working to free the people of Cuba, Belarus and Burma, he did not mention North Korea," Flake noted.

The president apparently does not want to upset the ongoing six-party talks and does not want the U.S. to be blamed if anything goes wrong, he told Yonhap.

"Clearly, talking about 'intensive diplomacy,' that gives you a signal," said Flake.

David Straub, former Korea affairs desk chief at the State Department, said the speech proved once again that the U.S. preoccupation with Iraq that has pushed the rest of the world to the back.

"His main concern was how to package the Iraq crisis," he said.

The assertion of intensive diplomacy has "very little substance," said Straub.

Washington, Jan. 23 (Yonhap News)