North Korea: Bush agrees to push for peaceful solution
US president George Bush has agreed to work for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis, a spokeswoman said today, as a US aircraft carrier docked off the South’s coast in a show of military might.
Meanwhile, Britain urged the United Nations to send a strong message of disapproval to North Korea over its suspected development of nuclear weapons.
Britain's Foreign Office Minister Baroness Symons said yesterday the UN Security Council should send a “clear, firm” message of disapproval to North Korea, but added that – in contrast to Iraq – there was every chance the North Korea crisis could be resolved peacefully through diplomatic means.
The United States announced that it resumed reconnaissance flights this week off the North’s coast after a hiatus prompted when a US plane was briefly intercepted by North Korean fighter.
The flights have added urgency amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test a medium-range missile capable of reaching Japan. Tokyo yesterday sent a battleship equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment off the Korean Peninsula.
During a telephone conversation last night, Bush and South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun also reconfirmed the allies’ military alliance, the presidential office said.
South Korean officials hoped the talk would allay fears of a possible war on the Korean Peninsula, limiting damage to an economy already jittery over potential war in the Gulf.
“The two heads of state reconfirmed their principle of seeking a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear problem through diplomatic efforts,” said Song Kyoung-hee, Roh’s spokeswoman.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reiterated Bush’s view that the United States sought the help of “other countries in the region for a peaceful solution through diplomacy”.
Roh was quoted as thanking Bush for making sure that the two allies had “no differences” on their policy in dealing with North Korea.
In the past weeks, Roh had expressed his misgivings about possible US plans to attack North Korea’s nuclear facilities, saying such an attack would trigger a war. Seoul lies only 37 miles behind the heavily armed border with the North.
Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson steamed to South Korea to participate in a major US-South Korean military exercise this month. The US Air Force also dispatched six F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters from their home base in New Mexico to participate in the exercise.
North Korea objects to the manoeuvres, calling them a rehearsal for invasion.
