Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=01/09/03

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=U-S / NORTH KOREA POLICY

NUMBER=6-12780

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The Bush administration says it is willing to resume direct talks with Pyongyang, although it is refusing to characterize them as "negotiations." Some newspapers around the world see this as a concession to what they are calling North Korea's latest nuclear blackmail, while others are pleased that a way around what looked like a diplomatic impasse has been found. For a sampling, we call V-O-A's ___________ to the microphone with this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: In October, North Korea startled the world with news that, contrary to its treaty obligations, it was still developing nuclear weapons. Several weeks later, Pyongyang unsealed nuclear fuel rods and expelled International Atomic Energy inspectors.

The Bush administration initially refused to discuss the situation directly with the Kim Jong Il government, but now, after discussions with North Korea's neighbors, Washington says there can be direct talks with Pyongyang.

Our sampling begins in Germany's financial center where The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says:

VOICE: Day by day, the United States is narrowing the gap with North Korea a bit more, rewarding Pyongyang's nuclear blackmail. Washington wants to talk with North Korea . and the topic is interesting: How to find ways that would allow Pyongyang to fulfill its international obligations. Not a word anymore about North Korea's having to give up its nuclear program before talks with the United States can happen. . A bankrupt North Korea is dictating U-S behavior, and Washington is playing along.

TEXT: In Munich, the big Sueddeutsche Zeitung sums up with this terse observation: ". the example of Pyongyang reminds the superpower that it, too, has limits. For a French view, the Paris daily Les Echos provides this assessment:

VOICE: Pyongyang is putting [President] Bush's geo-strategic doctrine of preventive war in a difficult spot. Although the American president had included North Korea in the 'Axis of Evil' he chose Iraq as the target for implementing this doctrine. The result of this is that Kim Jong Il has won a small victory since Washington has accepted to resume the dialogue, which is a significant change in position.

TEXT: In Northern Italy, Milan's well-known Il Giornale, there is a somewhat harsher interpretation.

VOICE: They call it a change of course, but, de facto, it is the major diplomatic retreat by the United States over the last several years, and certainly since the bush Administration inaugurated its 'doctrine' of 'zero tolerance' and 'preemptive war.'

On the verge of a showdown with North Korea, Washington stepped back and accepted the direct bilateral negotiations that it had firmly rejected until 48 hours earlier. It is still prohibited from calling them 'negotiations' . but the fact is . the United States has accepted [discussions] with the Pyongyang regime [on] how to find a way out of the 'nuclear impasse'

TEXT: In Moscow, Moskovskaya Pravda considers this a capitulation by Washington.

VOICE: Washington threatened Pyongyang with all kinds of trouble; the main item on the long list was an economic blockade. In response to the White House verbiage, Pyongyang, which is well aware of its strength, said, calmly but resolutely, that it will consider economic sanctions as a declaration of war. Washington chickened out: the Pentagon knows that no air defense, even utopian missile defense, will be able to protect the western part of the U-S [Editors: specifically o n l y Alaska and Hawaii] from North Korea's nuclear strike if it comes to that, and a quarrel with Beijing is tantamount to death.

In a word, [President] Bush has begun a titanic search for allies .to get out of this mess. .the U-S has been put in an idiotic position: for the first time in years Washington has been threatened with a war and had to retreat under the cover of thundering speeches.

TEXT: Another Russian daily, Izvestia, also from Moscow raises the same issue that several U-S dailies are pressing in their editorials.

VOICE: A sudden change in the White House's tactic[s] has given Democratic senators new reasons to accuse the Bush administration of using double standards in its foreign policy. Ordinary U-S citizens can hardly understand why their leaders are going to remove the Iraqi president even though U-N inspectors have not found any trace of weapons of mass destruction . and why they have chosen the tactic of diplomatic negotiations with North Korea that is threatening America and has openly spoken of its nuclear ambitions.

TEXT: Turning to Belgium, there is this column in Gazet van Antwerpen:

VOICE: Before he decides to attack Iraq, President Bush is confronted with an acute problem: Kim Jong Il and his gang defy him much more than archenemy Saddam Hussein. The danger of a conflict is real. And, how do you deal with a regime that is totally paranoid and unpredictable - - and . is capable of anything? It is up to [President] Bush to find an answer. . He clearly applies double standards in his actions against Kim and Saddam.

TEXT: As for Polish reaction, "The way world leaders deal with the Korean stalemate," says Warsaw's Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny "will determine whether Kim will have imitators in the future." And in Sweden, the Stockholm-based tabloid Aftenbladet thinks that:

VOICE: The North Korean affair is gradually becoming an awkward matter both for the U-S and the United Nations. Everyone seems to be in agreement that the Communist regime in the Korean peninsula is a greater threat to world peace than Iraq... But for once . the Bush administration has taken a wise position.

TEXT: In Japan, the Tokyo daily Asahi says:

VOICE: North Korea should accept a U-S offer to talk about its nuclear programs, as disclosed in the . statement, to defuse its nuclear crisis. The statement said the U-S does not pose a threat to North Korea and has no intention of invading the North. But it is premature to think ...the U-S is 'loosening its grip' on a nuke-defiant North Korea. . Unable to address the [North Korean] dispute head-on .[because of the] possible campaign against Iraq. the U-S 'shelved' the [North Korean dispute temporarily.

TEXT: The Mainichi daily concludes that: "Pyongyang needs to resume dialogue in a cool-headed manner."

And in South Korea, Seoul's Chosun Ilbo says, "With the U-S expressing its willingness . for dialogue . it has created small but significant breathing room for the resolution of the deadlocked . nuclear crisis.

On that, we conclude this editorial sampling on the recent change in U-S policy toward North Korean.

NEB/ANG/MAR