Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=OCTOBER 19, 2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH / NORTH KOREA (L)

NUMBER=2-308782

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: President Bush says the United States has no intention of invading North Korea, but he is again rejecting Pyongyang's demands for a non-aggression pact. Mr. Bush is in Thailand meeting with Asian leaders on the sidelines of a regional economic forum. VOA's Scott Stearns has more from Bangkok.

TEXT: President Bush is repeating his long-standing promise not to invade North Korea. But in remarks following a meeting with the Thai prime minister, Mr. Bush again rejected North Korea's call to make that promise part of a formal treaty.

/// BUSH ACT ///

The burden is on North Korea, not on America. North Korea must get rid of her nuclear ambitions. She must get rid of her weapons programs. That is exactly the point we are trying to make, in a verifiable way I might add. We think there is an opportunity to move the process forward and we are going to discuss it with our partners. We will not have a treaty, if that's what you are asking. That's off the table. Perhaps there are other ways we can say exactly what I have said publicly on paper with our partners' consent.

/// END ACT ///

U-S officials are working with those partners -- China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea -- to come up with a document to satisfy North Korean concerns about a possible U-S invasion that falls short of a formal treaty requiring U-S Congressional approval.

The president says this multilateral approach to North Korea's nuclear weapons program has the best chance of success because Pyongyang violated a 1994 bilateral agreement with the Clinton Administration that supplied fuel in exchange for North Korean promises not to develop nuclear weapons.

Much of the president's optimism over this multilateral approach is based on Chinese involvement in the process as Beijing brought all six parties together for a first round of talks earlier this year.

/// 2nd BUSH ACT ///

China is now very much engaged in the process. And as you very well know as a student of this issue, that hasn't been the case up until recently. As a matter of fact, the bilateral approach to dealing with North Korea didn't work. We signed an agreement with North Korea prior to our arrival in Washington D-C and the North Koreans cheated. And so we are trying another approach and I am hopeful this will work.

/// END ACT ///

Stopping North Korea's nuclear weapons program will be central to the president's talks later Sunday with Chinese leader Hu Jintao. (SIGNED)

NEB/SS/KL