Messages are flying, but U.S. is unlikely to embrace DPRK

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday, New York time, that he has a message for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from U.S. President George W. Bush.

Mr. Koizumi said Mr. Bush had asked him to tell the North Korean leader when they meet next week that Washington is open to dialogue with Pyeongyang. Mr. Koizumi was speaking to reporters; he is in New York to attend the 57th UN General Assembly meeting and met Mr. Bush there.

Mr. Bush reportedly said he supported Mr. Koizumi's visit to Pyeongyang, Kyodo News reported Friday from New York. The U.S. president offered to provide information and intelligence about North Korea before Mr. Koizumi meets Mr. Kim on Tuesday. Mr. Bush also stressed to the Japanese leader, Kyodo said, "the need for the North Koreans to address a broad range of concerns that the outside world shares," including development of weapons of mass destruction and conventional forces on the inter-Korean border.

The message from Mr. Bush suggests that Washington is drawing a distinction between North Korea and other so-called "rogue states," particularly Iran and Iraq, diplomatic observers in Seoul noted. The United States had earlier labeled the North one of the constituents of an "axis of evil" along with the two Middle Eastern countries. Mr. Bush's expressed willingness to resume bilateral talks with Pyeongyang came immediately after his de facto ultimatum to Saddam Hussein during his address to the UN Thursday. He also pledged to Americans Wednesday that the United States "will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder."

Diplomatic sources here said that the offer of talks is not new, but may have taken on new seriousness in light of recent encouraging moves by Pyeongyang to open dialogue with Seoul and Tokyo.

Japan's role in mediating relations between Washington and Pyeongyang was also outlined by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun on Friday. The newspaper said, without attribution, that Mr. Kim is expected to ask Mr. Koizumi to act as a bridge between Pyeongyang and the United States.

Many observers now predict that a U.S. envoy will travel to Pyeongyang in October, but they warned against hasty optimism that the visit would lead to a quick breakthrough in relations. The United States, they said, is unlikely to focus on mending fences with the North as it fights a war in Iraq.

by Kim Jin