Armitage Sees New Talks With North Soon

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Armitage Sees New Talks With North Soon

Visiting U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Richard Armitage said Wednesday that the United States could soon resume talks with North Korea

"At the moment, we are not talking with North Korea on anything, but I suspect that we will in the near future," Mr. Armitage told the press Wednesday evening after meeting President Kim Dae-jung and Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo. "As soon as we've completed the policy review, we want to come to talk to President Kim and get his views on how to approach those talks."

President Kim met with the U.S. defense official and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly Wednesday to discuss North Korea policy and the Bush administration's proposed missile defense program.

Mr. Armitage, leading a five-member delegation, began a 30-hour-long visit to Seoul with the call on the president, rather than meeting first with working-level officials. Officials said the gesture highlights the importance to Seoul of attempts to draw out the North from its shell.

In a letter Mr. Armitage delivered to Mr. Kim, U.S. President George W. Bush said he strongly supported Seoul's sunshine policy. Mr. Kim urged an early resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang, saying engagement is key to improved relations between the two Koreas and between Pyongyang and Washington.

A Seoul official, speaking of Washington - Pyongyang relations, said, "With the president expressing strong interest, the idea is to set a course which Washington can agree to." Other officials said the meeting may be the last opportunity to influence the Bush administration's North Korean policy before it is formalized and before a trilateral cooperation group meeting of South Korea, Japan and the United States, planned for late May.

Mr. Armitage told Mr. Kim that the Bush administration's strategic framework included halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction, a missile shield program and a commitment to unilateral reduction of nuclear weapons. He repeated, however, that his team was not in Seoul to seek support for the missile defense program. In Tokyo, where the team held talks prior to visiting Seoul, Mr. Armitage said he was not pushing the controversial program on Asian allies.

After the Blue House meeting, Mr. Armitage met with Foreign Minister Han and attended a dinner with his Korean hosts.

Government officials say they do not know whether Mr. Armitage will keep the same position on the missile defense initiative or seek Seoul's active support in meetings planned on Thursday. He will meet with Unification Minister Lim Dong-won and Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin; in the afternoon, the delegation will attend a conference on the new missile shield program with a Seoul team led by Yim Sung-joon, a deputy minister of foreign affairs.

Seoul officials said that the government will tell Mr. Armitage that it understands the position of the U.S. government in pursuing the missile shield plan, but will ask that Washington undertake adequate consultation with allies and other nations as it proceeds.

Outside, some 400 protesters marched against the new missile shield program, starting at Jongmyo Park in central Seoul.

"Armitage is here to pressure the Seoul government to support and participate in the new missile shield program," one protester said.



by Kim Jin-kook

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