Posted on 10/19/2006 3:51:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SEOUL, South Korea - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she would not try to dictate how U.S. allies enforce sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear program, and there were signs South Korea wouldn't quickly embrace Washington's approach.
"The key is to live up to the obligation that all of us undertook" to bar North Korea from exporting nuclear technology or receiving overseas help for its nuclear program, Rice said after meetings with South Korea's president and top diplomat.
South Korea and China are the communist North's closest neighbors and trading partners, accounting for two-thirds of its foreign commerce.
Both nations are pledged to carry out U.N. restrictions approved after North Korea's Oct. 9 test explosion of a small nuclear device, but they have hedged on details. Rice visits Chinese leaders Friday in Beijing.
Rice is on a crisis mission to Asia to reinforce the sanctions and reassure jittery allies of U.S. support. But she played down differences over how to confront Pyongyang, and left U.S. expectations vague.
"I did not come to South Korea nor will I go anyplace else to try to dictate to governments what they ought to do," to enforce the U.N. mandate, Rice said at a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
Ban said Seoul will review the terms of economic projects it has undertaken with the North "in harmony and in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution and international demands," but he made no promises.
The United States is skeptical about a pair of landmark inter-Korean projects — a tourism venture and joint economic zone in North Korea — that are symbols of hopes for the peninsula's reunification. U.S. officials have suggested the tourism project in particular serves to funnel badly needed hard currency to the North Korean regime.
A senior State Department official traveling with Rice said Seoul is likely to announce changes to the projects or other means of meeting the sanctions requirement after Rice has left the region, so as not to appear to have caved to U.S. demands. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Rice's consultations were private.
South Korea has said it would fully comply with the sanctions but has also indicated it does not plan to halt key economic projects with the North.
North Korean Gen. Ri Chan Bok told ABC News that his country's nuclear weapons were "to defend our country and our people" and would not be sold for profit. He also said President Bush wants Pyongyang to "kneel."
At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow denied that Bush wanted North Korea to "kneel down," and said the U.S. was seeking a diplomatic accord with North Korea over its nuclear weapons. Snow said that included a "better economy, more security, better relations with their neighbors, integration into the global community, as opposed to isolation."
Meanwhile, a Chinese envoy, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, delivered North Korean leader Kim Jong Il a personal message from China's president on Thursday in the highest-level Chinese visit to its isolated ally since the nuclear test.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Kim and the diplomat had "in-depth discussions" about the nuclear dispute.
"This is a very significant visit against the backdrop of major changes on the Korean Peninsula," Liu said at a news briefing. "We hope China's diplomatic efforts ... will bear fruit."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the Chinese diplomat was "carrying a very strong message from the Chinese government about the need for the North Koreans not to engage in additional nuclear tests and to move forward in terms of stopping their negative behavior."
But in a sign of the hurdles Rice faces in Beijing, Liu said that while China will "implement in earnest" the sanctions, they are "the means to an end, which is to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way."
China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with power to veto U.N. actions, is traditionally reluctant to punish the North. Besides ideological parallels between the Asian communist nations, Beijing fears that coming down too hard could topple the fragile government of Kim Jong Il and send hundreds of thousands of hungry refugees flooding across the border.
China signed on to the U.N. sanctions partly to rebuke North Korea for ignoring repeated Chinese warnings not to test-fire missiles or conduct a nuclear test. Beijing has since warned its neighbor against taking any further steps, such as a second nuclear test, that would heighten tensions.
Beijing's U.N. ambassador has indicated that inspectors will not board ships to search for equipment or material that can be used to make nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or ballistic missiles. China and South Korea worry that the North would consider the action provocative.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, shakes hands with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, right, and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso prior to a three-way talks at Ban's official residence in Seoul Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. Rice said Thursday she will not presume to tell South Korea or China exactly how they should enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea, but called on all nations to cooperate. (AP Photo/Jung Yeon-je, Pool)
>Rice: Won't coerce allies on N. Korea
But N. Korea will coerce U.S.
Chinese tourists cruise a boat near the North Korean city of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong in northeast China, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in South Korea on Thursday to push Seoul to fully support sanctions against North Korea, while Chinese envoys were apparently in Pyongyang warning the reclusive country against more nuclear tests. China could play the most important role in restraining the North because the Chinese have long been the impoverished nation's closest ally and its biggest source of trade and fuel. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A South Korean Marine holds a K-3 machine gun as he takes position during a landing drill at Ganghwa. China increased pressure on North Korea not to conduct a second atom bomb test while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared to win a commitment from Seoul to review its policy of economic engagement with Pyongyang.(AFP/Kim Jae-Hwan)
Yea, that will do it... Strength through weakness.
North Korean soldiers chat on the bank of the Yalu River in the North Korean town of Sinuiju, October 18, 2006. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying she does not want to see the North Korean nuclear crisis escalate, is seeking ways to implement U.N. sanctions against the reclusive state in talks with Asian powers beginning on Wednesday. CHINA OUT NO ARCHIVES NO SALES REUTERS/Stringer (NORTH KOREA)
This article goes into some detail on the "projects" South has with North. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15797605.htm
You thought that Bubba's administration was full of spin. Then you wonder why good average Americans are lazy about going to vote.
Thanks for the link.
The problem here is that South Korea will not agree to a harsh stance against the North. I do not think that if we tried to force South Korea into action would work and it certainly would give the dims another club to bash our President with. The liberal moonbat President in South Korea is stepping down early next year when they hold elections. I think our government has been given assurances that the new government will have a harsher stance.
LLS
North Korean soldiers stand on duty along the waterfront of the North Korean city of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong in northeast China, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in South Korea on Thursday to push Seoul to fully support sanctions against North Korea, while Chinese envoys were apparently in Pyongyang warning the reclusive country against more nuclear tests. China could play the most important role in restraining the North because the Chinese have long been the impoverished nation's closest ally and its biggest source of trade and fuel. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
And Rice wants to lead the NFL?
/Confused
Is Snow, Bush, Rice, or anyone else, stupid enough to believe NoKo actually gives a fart about any of these things?
If Kim wanted any or all of these gimcracks, he could have had them for the asking in the 90's from Billyboy, Paddlin' Madelyn and the redoubtable Jimmah the Stooge.
Amen!
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