The S Korean president is a reprehensible leftist who hopefully will lose office in the next elections. Bush should be given points if he gave this guy a swift kick in the rear.
The UN fought N Korea and N Korea remains at war with us. There would be no sensible reason for the US to declare the war over unless N Korea did the same and made major peace moves.
This comes from one of S. Korea’s top 3 english language sites. Notice the downplaying of the very brief exchange between Bush and the SK president. Notice how it mentions that Bush offered(an offer he made in June and was missed by the MSM) an ending to the war if “North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program and its weapons”. But then S. Korea just wants peace. The MSM just wants Bush’s head on a platter.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/09/10/200709100022.asp
United States President George W. Bush gave a nudge at North Korea`s Kim Jong-il to wipe his hands clean of nuclear weapons last week at the APEC meeting in Sydney, Australia, stating the possibility of a formal peace agreement should the communist state achieve complete denuclearization.
This was not the first time that Bush has mentioned bringing about an official end to the Korean War. At a previous APEC summit meeting in Hanoi last November, Bush said that the United States is willing to enter into security arrangements with North Korea if that country disarms. His statement at the time raised the possibility of a peace agreement or a peace treaty to replace the current Armistice Agreement signed in 1953 between the United Nations Command and North Korea.
There appears to be strong momentum in the six-party process. Shortly after a joint press meeting of Roh and Bush, Christopher Hill, the top U.S. nuclear negotiator announced that nuclear experts from the United States, China and Russia would visit North Korea from Sept. 11 to 15 to study how that country`s nuclear facilities could be disabled. North Korea`s main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon was shut down in July.
Hill went on to describe the planned visit, which is being made at the invitation of North Korea, as “another significant step toward the denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. All signs are that both the United States and North Korea are readier than ever to work toward achieving the goals of the Feb. 13 agreement. The accord would provide North Korea with energy assistance and normalization of relations with Japan and the United States in exchange for complete denuclearization.
Roh will deliver Bush`s message of a “peace treaty for complete denuclearization” to his North Korean counterpart when he visits Pyongyang from Oct. 2 to 4 for a summit meeting. The message will need to be clear and unequivocal: A peace treaty is possible only when North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program and its weapons. Nothing should get “lost in translation” — a phrase used to gloss over the awkward exchange between Roh and Bush as the South Korean president pressed Bush to clarify himself on the matter of declaring an end to the Korean War — Roh and Kim speak the same language.
The upcoming South-North summit should be used as an opportunity to reinforce the six-party process and reiterate to the North Korean leader that complete denuclearization is the only way for the isolated country to lift its people out of poverty.
Indeed this is as good as it gets for North Koreans. Bush is determined to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue within his term. The Bush administration has moved away from the harsh rhetoric of “Axis of Evil” and is talking with the North Koreans. Now, the possibility of a peace treaty is within Kim`s grasp. However, to get that prize, North Korea must completely denuclearize.
It would be foolhardy for North Korea to miss this golden opportunity to sign a peace treaty that could eventually lead to normalization of relations with the United States, ending decades of isolation. Kim knows what he needs to do. When Roh visits him next month, Kim should send a clear message that he will proceed, as pledged, to achieve complete denuclearization.