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SLUG: 6-12849 Korean Provocations
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DATE=3/5/03 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP TITLE=KOREAN PROVOCATIONS NUMBER=6-12849 BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie DATELINE=Washington EDITOR=Assignments TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= /// EDITORS: DUE TO THE LARGE NUMBER OF EDITORIALS ON NORTH KOREA, THIS ROUNDUP DOES N O T DUPLICATE EDITORIALS FOUND IN WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIAL DIGEST [6-12848 OR TUESDAY'S SHOWS]./// INTRO: Rising tensions surrounding North Korea are pushing aside Iraq, at least for now, on U-S newspaper editorial pages. The potential impact of an encounter between North Korean military jets and a U-S surveillance plane and the North's restart of a nuclear power station are the focus of many columns. We get a sampling from V-O-A's ____________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup. TEXT: Last week, North Korea began reactivating a nuclear power plant capable of producing fuel for bombs. Then four North Korean M-I-G jet fighters flew very close to an unarmed U-S Air Force reconnaissance plane in international waters, as tensions continued to escalate. Many papers feel the Bush administration has no alternative but to begin talks with Kim Jong Il's government to de-escalate the situation. But President Bush is holding out for multi-nation talks that include Russia, China and South Korea. In Pennsylvania, there is an element of déjà vu to what is going on according to Allentown's Morning Call. VOICE: Time and again, the same editorial is written: North Korea takes a more provocative step than its previous provocative step and the White House says the latest risky move will only further isolate the Kim Jong Il regime. The latest came when four North Korean fighters approached an unarmed U-S spy plane Saturday night. ///OPT /// The MiGs approached the aircraft on a legal, routine mission in international airspace about 240 kilometers off the Korean coast. The MiGs flew alongside the U-S aircraft, used to monitor areas where missiles are tested, for 20 minutes, sometimes coming within 15 meters. /// END OPT /// This was the first time in more than 30 years that North Korean aircraft intercepted a U-S plane. The incident was a North Korean provocation, as it seeks to build a nuclear arsenal despite American and international protests, and it must be taken very seriously. TEXT: Thoughts from Allentown's Morning Call. In Colorado, however Denver's Rocky Mountain News is satisfied with how the White House is handling things. VOICE: The Bush administration's response to North Korea's latest provocation was properly cool and measured. All options remain on the table, including the military options. On Tuesday, in fact, in an act of deterrence, President Bush sent 24-B-1 and B-52 bombers to the island of Guam, although he believes the situation can be resolved diplomatically. What is worrisome is that these provocations seem part of a pattern of increasingly desperate attempts by North Korea's Kim Jong Il to force the United States into unilateral negotiations with his regime. TEXT: Excerpts from Denver's Rocky Mountain News. On New York's Long Island, Newsday is worried that these incidents are "poised to cause a catastrophe." VOICE: What North Korea is doing is brutally obvious -- it's as subtle as getting someone's attention by hitting them over the head with a two-by-four [Editors: "a heavy, wooden plank"]. Pyongyang wants the United States, and no one else will do, to pay attention to its demands and its real and imagined grievances and perception of threat. If Washington continues giving it the studied silent treatment, North Korea will continue to escalate its aggressive actions, as it has with mounting severity for the past two months, until its threats can no longer be ignored. In doing so, Pyongyang may make a ruinous mistake. TEXT: Views of Long Island's Newsday. Across the Hudson River, Northern New Jersey's [Bergen County] Record is in worried accord with Newsday. VOICE: The standoff with North Korea continues to escalate, with no sign that either side is seriously trying to defuse the dangerous situation. The Bush administration, for its part, has done little to lower the tension level. The White House says it wants to resolve this crisis peacefully but refuses to talk directly with North Korea. That's a dangerous mistake. TEXT: In Ohio however, The Cincinnati Post feels the Bush administration's response to the latest provocation was the right one, and goes on to say: VOICE: Kim Jong Il would be wise to accept [President] Bush's offer to settle this standoff through multilateral diplomacy because [Mr.] Kim's favored alternative -- that we allow ourselves to be bullied and blackmailed -- is unacceptable. TEXT: Both The Minneapolis [Minnesota] Star Tribune and California's San Jose Mercury News are calling for this country to open bilateral talks with Pyongyang, while Kentucky's largest daily, The Louisville Courier-Journal worries that: VOICE: The administration's preference -- for a regional approach that also includes China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- [while] sensible, has found no takers and is vehemently opposed by North Korea, which wants to deal one-on-one with the United States. /// OPT /// The United States is nonetheless caught in a bind [Editors: "conflict"] that demands flexibility. Any military option, such as pre-emptive strikes to destroy North Korea's reactors, runs the risk of war. Yet the prospect of North Korea becoming a nuclear power, and a prospective supplier of these weapons to other governments or terrorists, is surely unacceptable to the president. /// END OPT /// That leaves a negotiated settlement, which is what the President must pursue. TEXT: With that pronouncement from Kentucky's Louisville Courier-Journal, we conclude this sampling of the latest reaction to North Korea's increasing provocations. NEB/ANG/RH |
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