No unilateral action on North

The U.S. ambassador to Korea, Thomas Hubbard, said yesterday that the United States would take no action against North Korea without the full support of the Korean government.
“We attach the utmost importance to consultation and coordination with South Korea as we try to deal with North Korea,” he said. These efforts are the focus of the current visit to Washington by Korea’s Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan and the expected future visit of President Roh Moo-hyun, he said.
The U.S. ambassador’s comments came as Seoul’s top diplomat continued his visit in Washington, where he was expected to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell early today to coordinate strategy on North Korea.
Officials traveling with Mr. Yoon said in Washington that the two foreign ministers were expected to agree on initiating dialogue with North Korea at an early time within a multilateral framework. Officials close to the talks said Korea has suggested a framework of six nations to take part in dialogue, including the United States, Japan, Russia, China and the two Koreas.
An official traveling with the minister told reporters in Washington that there has been little change in North Korea’s insistence for direct bilateral talks with the United States.
But some of the countries involved in the effort to convince the North to come to multilateral dialogue “have been told different things recently,” he said, suggesting the possibility that North Korea may be willing to join the talks on Washington’s terms.
Having ceased earlier this month a series of provocative actions aimed at pressuring neighboring countries and the United States, Pyeongyang has continued publicly to demand that Washington negotiate a bilateral agreement to ensure the survival of its regime.
The United States has argued that other countries are directly and indirectly affected by the North Korean nuclear program and should therefore be part of any discussions on relieving the tension.
Earlier yesterday, Mr. Yoon was completing a series of meetings with congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana. They were grateful for Korea’s show of support for the U.S.-led war against Iraq, a Korean official who sat in on the meetings said.

by Oh Young-hwan