US Join Call on NK to Attend Multilateral Talks
2003-07-09
The United States on Tuesday (July 8) joined the latest call by South Korea and China on North Korea to join a multilateral round of talks aimed at resolving an international standoff over the Stalinist country's nuclear program.
Following the Seoul-Beijing summit in which the leaders of the two countries saw eye to eye on the need for concerned parties to talk to each other. Richard Boucher, U.S. State Department spokesman, said, "We have made it clear that we don't have any intention of attacking or invading North Korea. I think we've made that very clear already."
"So there's not much more to say on that, and as far as how it evolves in the course of discussions, let's have the discussions, let's have the multilateral discussions that the United States has been seeking," he added.
The comments follow Chinese President Hu Jintao's remarks after a summit with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Monday that the North's security concerns should be "seriously" addressed, referring to Pyongyang's demand that Washington guarantee not to attempt to overthrow its regime.
Pyongyang has said verbal assurances that Washington does not plan to attack are not enough, pointing to a new U.S. doctrine about preemptive war, which dictates that the United States should be prepared to take action first as a defensive measure against a perceived adversary. In light of this new doctrine, the North has said it wants a non-aggression treaty.
The Bush administration has rejected the demand, saying such a treaty would almost certainly not survive debate in the Senate.
Source : www.korea.net
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