The Hindu : International : Bush goes soft on North Korea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

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International

Bush goes soft on North Korea

By Simon Tisdall

LONDON, FEB. 4. The prospect of renewed conflict in the Korean peninsula receded yesterday after the U.S. President, George W. Bush, eschewed further hostile rhetoric against North Korea in his State of the Union address.

But the direction and methodology of Mr Bush's overall drive to halt proliferation of weapons of mass destruction remained unpredictable. ``We must confront regimes that continue to harbour terrorists and pursue weapons of mass death,'' he said in a clear warning to Iran. Mr Bush's only reference to Pyongyang came in the context of a pledge to ``work closely with Governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions''.

New tone

Mr Bush did not repeat his 2002 characterisation of North Korea as part of an ``axis of evil''. Nor did he recycle last month's assertion by the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, that Pyongyang was an ``outpost of tyranny''.

By emphasising diplomacy, Mr Bush sent a signal of greater flexibility that diplomats say North Korea has been waiting for.

The President also seemed to indicate that, unlike Iran where he effectively urged the Iranian people to overthrow their Government, the U.S. would not seek to precipitate or impose regime change in North Korea.

This softening of tone will come as a relief to regional allies, such as South Korea and Japan, worried by first term bellicosity. Pyongyang was characteristically silent yesterday.

Multilateral approach

``We are ready to go. We have a serious proposal and we are ready to discuss it without preconditions,'' Michael Green, the NSC's Asia director, told the Kyodo news agency.

Mr Bush placed unusual stress in his speech on multilateral approaches to WMD proliferation. But his assertion that the U.S. was ``working with European allies'' on Iran was contentious. —

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