U.S. to join effort to limit North's arms

Seoul and Washington will raise issues concerning North Korea's conventional weapons in any future talks with Pyeongyang, South Korean and U.S. military authorities said Wednesday.

Major General Kim Kook-hun, director general of arms control at the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, and Brigadier General Timothy Donovan of the United States Forces Korea said the two countries have jointly developed a series of confidence-building measures for the Korean Peninsula. Seoul and Washington agreed that the confidence building measures should be brought up at inter-Korean talks and negotiations between Pyeongyang and Washington, Mr. Kim and Mr. Donovan said.

The statement indicates a shift in the U.S. stance on addressing Pyeongyang's conventional capabilities. Until recently, Washington had left the matter entirely in the hands of its allies in Seoul, but now it clearly intends to play an active role in persuading the North to pull back its conventional forces from the Demilitarized Zone.

South Korean and U.S. military authorities agreed to a four-stage sequence beginning with confidence building, removing threats from the peninsula, reducing armaments and establishing a formal peace regime.

For the initial stage of confidence building the allies agreed on 32 items, including opening a military hot line between the two Koreas and inviting the North to attend international arms control seminars.

Seoul and Washington will pass plans for the confidence-building measures along to Pyeongyang most likely through North Korean diplomats based in New York, diplomatic sources said.

Despite President George W. Bush's repeated statements that the North should move back its conventional forces, Washington and Seoul will wait for the confidence-building measures to take root before urging the North to pull them back, Mr. Donovan said.

by Kim Min-seok