- SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters)
- North Korea accused the United States of pursuing a "policy of evil"
on Tuesday, after U.S. aircraft and warships were put on alert for possible
deployment near the Korean peninsula and as Washington signaled it was
preparing the ground for direct talks with Pyongyang.
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- In Washington, a South Korean envoy told the Bush administration
it should more actively seek dialogue with Pyongyang and indicated Seoul
was in no hurry to see a U.N. debate on North Korea's nuclear programs.
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- Chyung Dai-chul, an envoy from South Korean President-elect
Roh Moo-hyun, told reporters he had passed on that message in talks with
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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- "We also expressed our hope that the United States
... plays a more proactive role in engaging in dialogue with North Korea,
but also with an international setting, with a multilateral approach,"
Chyung said.
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- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that direct talks would
come about once the United States had established "a strong international
platform" for them.
-
- U.S. officials said Armitage was referring to Washington's
attempts to work within a consensus including South Korea, Japan, China,
Russia and the European Union.
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- "Of course we're going to have direct talks with
North Korea. There's no question about it," Armitage said.
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- The U.N. nuclear watchdog, booted out of North Korea
last month, took steps on Tuesday to refer the communist state's nuclear
weapons program to the Security Council.
-
- The flurry of international attention to the four-month-old
face-off came as Washington prepared to make its case for war against Iraq.
Last year, President Bush bracketed Iraq with North Korea and Iran in an
"axis of evil" for their suspected weapons development programs.
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- Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun
newspaper accused the United States of pursuing a "policy of evil
against the Korean nation, its reunification and peace."
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- The ruling party daily dismissed U.S. offers of dialogue
on the impasse as "a camouflaged peace hoax to cover up its nuclear
blackmail against the DPRK (North Korea)."
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- RUSSIA OPPOSED TO U.S. BUILD-UP
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- Monday, U.S. defense officials said the Pentagon was
considering reinforcements in the western Pacific to deter any North Korean
aggression in case of war in Iraq.
-
- They said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had yet to
issue any final orders to move B-52 bombers, F-16 fighter jets or naval
units closer to the Korean peninsula.
-
- Russia said Tuesday it opposed any U.S. military build
up around the Korean peninsula. A foreign ministry statement said any expansion
of U.S. forces in the area of Korea would play a "negative role because
it won't bring a desirable solution of the problem by talks but ... may
provoke a response."
-
- Military alliance officials are monitoring developments
and would consult with South Korea's Ministry of National Defense "if
additional forces are required on the Korean peninsula for the accomplishment
of our mission," the commander of U.S. Forces in Korea, General Leon
J. LaPorte, said in a statement.
-
- North Korean state radio said the reported reinforcement
proposals showed the United States was "plotting to boost forces in
Japan and South Korea as one link in its scheme to stifle our country through
military means."
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- In Vienna, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency said Monday
its governing board would hold an emergency session on Feb. 12 on the nuclear
crisis.
-
- International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei
told Reuters the IAEA board was likely to hand the issue over to the U.N.
Security Council. "Under our charter, we will report to the Security
Council," he said in an interview.
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- "I've exhausted all possibilities within my power
to bring North Korea into compliance," ElBaradei said.
-
- The crisis erupted last October when Washington said
Pyongyang had admitted to enriching uranium in violation of a 1994 accord,
under which it froze its nuclear program in exchange for two energy-generating
reactors and free fuel.
-
- Since December, North Korea has expelled IAEA inspectors,
withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, restarted a mothballed
nuclear complex capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium and threatened
to resume missile tests.
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- U.S. HAS NO INTENTION OF ATTACKING
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- Washington has said repeatedly it intends to settle differences
with Pyongyang peacefully and officials stressed the possible deployment
did not include any ground forces to join the 37,000 U.S. troops now stationed
in South Korea.
-
- The Pentagon refused to confirm any movement of forces
-- the goal of which, the U.S. defense officials said, was to maintain
the region's military balance.
-
- Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed last week
the United States had no intention of attacking North Korea and was ready
to convey that assurance in an unmistakable way.
-
- North Korea says the only way to resolve the crisis is
talks with Washington leading to a non-aggression pact.
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- ElBaradei said North Korea was wrong to portray the stand-off
as just a bilateral issue with Washington.
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- "The U.S. disagrees with that, almost everybody
disagrees with that, and I disagree with that," he said. "I think
it's an international issue that has a lot to do with peace and security
... an issue of concern to the world at large."
-
- ElBaradei said he did not expect the 15-nation Security
Council to opt for economic sanctions or military action but to seek a
diplomatic solution.
-
- Asked in Washington what South Korea thought of IAEA
and Security Council action, Chyung said: "The basic position of the
Roh Moo-hyun administration would be that, yes, the IAEA could bring this
issue to the U.N. Security Council."
-
- "But the solution to this should be sought in a
gradual and step-by-step manner," the envoy added.
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- Pyongyang has said it would view sanctions as an act
of war. Most experts on North Korea believe even a surgical strike on its
nuclear facilities would provoke Pyongyang into an all-out attack on South
Korea, whose capital Seoul lies within range of 10,000 artillery pieces
deployed on their border.
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