- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Friday
demanded that North Korea completely and visibly scrap its nuclear weapons
program in the wake of an allied decision to cut off fuel oil shipments
to the communist state.
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- But in a written statement issued by the White House,
Bush took pains not to inflame the situation further.
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- He reiterated that the United States has no intention
of invading the North, expressed hope for a "different future"
between the two countries and did not rule out reviving a U.S. initiative,
now on hold, "to improve the lives of the North Korean people."
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- Pyongyang, apparently anxious about a growing new conflict
over its recently-acknowledged nuclear weapons program, has signaled a
desire for security assurances from Washington.
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- Although Bush made no mention of holding talks with the
North, his comments seemed aimed at calming some of Pyongyang's worst fears.
"We are united in our desire for a peaceful resolution of this situation,"
Bush said.
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- "We are also united in our resolve that the only
option for addressing this situation is for North Korea to completely and
visibly eliminate its nuclear weapons program," he added.
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- The decision to cut off the shipments starting in December
in response to North Korea's violation of a 1994 nuclear agreement came
in New York on Thursday by diplomats from the United States, European Union,
South Korea and Japan.
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- The group, meeting as the executive board of the Korean
Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), said this month's shipment
of oil, already on the high seas, would be delivered to North Korea but
it would be the last for now.
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- The controversy erupted on Oct. 16 when it was first
reported that North Korea had acknowledged a program to produce highly
enriched uranium, a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.
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- The program violates a deal that Pyongyang signed with
Washington in 1994 agreeing to freeze its nuclear weapon activities. In
return, the North was promised a $5 billion package administered by KEDO
that includes construction of two light water nuclear power reactors and
annual deliveries of 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.
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- Bush welcomed the organization's move to suspend fuel
oil shipments to Pyongyang.
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- "North's Korea's clear violation of its international
commitments will not be ignored," he said.
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- To the chagrin of some experts, administration officials
have said they have no plans for a dialogue with Pyongyang at least until
after the nuclear program is dismantled.
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- But Sen. Chuck Hagel, an influential Republican on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a non-proliferation conference
on Friday he endorsed engagement with the North.
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- "We certainly don't want to elevate this into some
kind of crisis," said Hagel, urging that it be resolved diplomatically
using economic, geopolitical, strategic and humanitarian tools.
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- Hagel confirmed reports that Pakistan has assisted in
the development of Pyongyang's nuclear program. "When we talk of Pakistan,
what you have referred to -- intelligence reports coming out -- from what
we do know there is, I suspect, some legitimacy to some of those reports,"
he told a questioner at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
conference.
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- But he argued life's choices are seldom black and white
and in the case of Pakistan, Washington must balance this nuclear assistance
with "the other side of the ledger," namely President Pervez
Musharraf's crucial support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism. "I'm
not sure we would have been able to accomplish as much as we have been
able to accomplish without Musharraf," he said.
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- Isolationist North Korea, a country in severe economic
decline whose 22 million people face a bitter winter, admitted to U.S.
officials in October that it was enriching uranium to support a weapons
program.
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- Bush has declared North Korea to be part of an "axis
of evil" along with Iraq and Iran. But while Bush has threatened military
action against Iraq, he has emphasized a desire for a peaceful outcome
in North Korea.
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- In his statement, Bush recalled how he said on a visit
to Seoul last February that the "United States has no intention of
invading North Korea. This remains the case today."
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- He also noted how in June 2001 he had offered a "comprehensive
dialogue" with the North as part of a "bold approach" in
which "if the North addressed our long-standing concerns, the United
States was prepared to take important steps that would have significantly
improved the lives of the North Korean people."
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- He said that "now that North Korea's covert nuclear
weapons program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach,"
but did not say it could never be revived, something administration hard-liners
are loath to do.
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