DATE=6/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA / U-S (L)
NUMBER=2-263520
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Only days after hosting a historic summit to
improve ties with South Korea, North Korea is accusing
the United States of increasing the danger of war and
escalating tensions. As V-O-A's Alisha Ryu explains
from our Asia News Center in Hong Kong, the accusation
follows Washington's announcement it has no plans to
withdraw U-S troops from South Korea.
TEXT: In Sunday's edition of the North Korean
Worker's Party newspaper, Pyongyang accused the United
States of only pretending to be interested in peace on
the Korean Peninsula. It said U-S refusal to discuss
the withdrawal of its 37 thousand troops could erase
summit efforts to decrease the risk of war.
The charges against the United States are in sharp
contrast to the North's conciliatory attitude toward
South Korea during last week's landmark three-day
summit. But the deputy director at the Center for
American Studies in Shanghai, Dingli Shen, believes
the latest rhetoric against South Korea's staunchest
ally is nothing out of the ordinary.
/// SHEN ACTUALITY ///
It has been a long-held position of North Korea to ask
for foreign troops to be withdrawn from the Korean
peninsula. It is not a new policy. To be realistic,
I do not expect the U-S to withdraw immediately and I
do not think North Korea and the U-S can improve their
overall relationship to a satisfactory degree. It
will take time.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
Professor Shen says, over the years, Pyongyang has
denounced the United States while simultaneously
pursuing dialogue. He says a better gauge for the
future of North Korean / U-S relations is how
Pyongyang reacts when the United States partially
lifts sanctions against North Korea later Monday, as
expected. Last year, Washington pledged to relax
sanctions in exchange for a North Korean promise to
freeze long-range missile tests.
The United States maintains that the presence of U-S
troops acts as a necessary buffer between the two
Korea's. (Signed)
NEB/HK/AR/GC/WD
19-Jun-2000 06:43 AM EDT (19-Jun-2000 1043 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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