Kim Is Silent on North's War Role

"I will solemnly protect our territorial waters and the Northern Limit Line," President Kim Dae-jung told a group of Korean War veterans on Monday at a ceremony marking the 51st anniversary of the start of the war.

But the president made no mention of the North Korean role in the conflict, saying that the Korean War was due to the "ambition of the Soviet Union to communize the world."

Mr. Kim said, "Until we have full peace on the Korean Peninsula, I will uphold national security, and I will closely cooperate with our allies and the United Nations.

"The Republic of Korea found peace and freedom through your sacrifice," he went on. "I will never forget your feat and I thank you."

The president, the architect of Seoul's "sunshine" policy of engagement with the North, said a South-North Korea peace accord is the ultimate goal of national security.

A source close to the president added that Mr. Kim is not likely to oust Army General Cho Yung-kil, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Some have called for Mr. Cho's resignation for continuing a round of golf after learning of an incursion by North Korean commercial ships into southern territorial waters in early June.

by Kim Jin-kook