Posted on 06/29/2005 6:06:47 AM PDT by Alex Marko
SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. and South Korean forces can deter and defeat North Korea even if the reclusive communist state has several nuclear weapons, a senior U.S. military officer said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
Amid growing signs stalled six-country talks on those weapons could restart, South Korea's foreign minister said regional powers trying to coax North Korea back to the table should anticipate a possible resumption of the process.
Seoul sent its unification minister to Washington on Wednesday for talks with senior U.S. officials including Vice President Dick Cheney on the nuclear crisis.
The commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, General Leon LaPorte, said the U.S. military believed North Korea had one to two nuclear weapons at a minimum, and was also working to advance its missile program.
"Whether North Korea has one or several nuclear weapons does not change the balance on the peninsula," LaPorte told South Korea's PBC radio in an interview taped on Tuesday, according to a transcript provided by the station.
"The U.S. and the Republic of Korea retain our ability to deter North Korean aggression and, if required, to decisively defeat the North Korean threat if they were to threaten South Korea," he said.
LaPorte said the United States was fully committed to talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programs and sought a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Those talks involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
LaPorte's comments may cause North Korea to try to draw more attention to its nuclear program through boasts or perhaps more provocative measures, an analyst said.
"North Korea may try to create new tensions by prodding neighboring countries and trying to re-alert them about its nuclear capabilities," said Jeung Young-tae from the Korea Institute for National Unification.
MISSILE PROGRAMME
U.S. officials have repeatedly said Washington has no intention of attacking the North.
LaPorte also said the U.S. military believed the North had a substantial missile program, which included long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the mainland United States if the North succeeded in increasing their power.
North Korea said in February it possessed nuclear weapons and was boycotting the six-party talks, but recently has shown signs it may return to the table.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told visiting South Korea Unification Minister Chung Dong-young this month his country was prepared to return to negotiations if certain conditions were met, such as Washington treating Pyongyang as a genuine partner.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told a news conference on Wednesday the five countries working to bring the North back to the table had been encouraged by Kim's comments.
"Considering these, I believe it will be desirable for the North to return to the talks without further delay, and it is also probably worth anticipating it," Ban said.
Ri Gun, a senior North Korean diplomat involved in the six-way talks, has received permission from Washington to attend a seminar later this week in New York, where he may also meet U.S. officials, experts said.
"As far as the U.S. is concerned, the ball is in North Korea's court," B.C. Koh, a North Korea expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wrote in recent research paper.
Seoul has devised a huge economic assistance offer to boost many parts of the North Korean economy if the nuclear impasse is resolved, South Korean media have reported.
On Tuesday, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a North Korean diplomatic source as saying Pyongyang was preparing to return to the table in the second half of July. Ban declined to comment on that report.
Would we expect them to say anything less?
There's no need to fight them...just nuke kimi ills bunker along with the nuclear sites!!! the war will end before it even starts!!!
There's no need to fight them...just nuke kimi ills bunker along with the nuclear sites!!! the war will end before it even starts!!!
"...it may cost us Seattle, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, however."
Why would the commies target other commies...?
The US military can defeat anyone, anywhere - if only we are willing.
the rest of that headline should read "in less then two weeks time".
Los Angeles is now part of Mexico. No loss to us.
Because they are still Americans, and it doesn't matter what kind of Americans, as long as they are Americans.
it would be tough for them to wage an effective war if they say, can't get off their peninsula....amongst other things...
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