In Shift, Bush Open to Pledge for N. Korea

President Bush on Sunday took his most conciliatory step yet in his administration’s campaign to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, saying he would consider signing a deal promising not to attack the isolationist country as long as the guarantee was not a formal treaty.

The president’s remarks appeared to be a concession to allies, particularly South Korea and China, who have been urging the U.S. to offer a concrete proposal to restart stalemated disarmament talks.

North Korea has insisted that it would not renounce its nuclear weapons capability unless the United States abandoned its “hostile intent,” and has demanded a written nonaggression treaty. Bush has said he has no intention of invading North Korea, but has resisted putting security assurances into writing.

“We will not have a treaty.... That’s off the table,” Bush said after meeting with the Thai prime minister on the eve of the annual summit of Asian-Pacific leaders. “Perhaps there are other ways we can look at to say exactly what I said publicly on paper, with our partners’ consent.”

U.S. officials said Bush would only agree to a multi-country security pledge, but it is not clear how receptive North Korea would be to such an idea. Pyongyang has insisted it would accept only a bilateral nonaggression treaty with the United States.

With North Korea refusing to come back to the bargaining table, the Bush administration has been under growing pressure from its Asian allies to offer North Korea something more positive than a spoken pledge. South Korean diplomats have tried indirectly to let it be known that President Roh Moo Hyun, whose domestic political position is precarious, needs to show positive movement on the North Korean problem, especially now that he has committed himself to the politically unpopular step of sending South Korean troops to Iraq.

Bush and Roh met over breakfast today. Before the talks, Bush said “good progress” was being made on the North Korea issue. Roh said he appreciated Bush’s efforts, adding, “This issue is very critical.”

Like the South Koreans, Chinese diplomats have hinted that the U.S. needs to show more flexibility toward North Korea. The Bush administration feels that China is vital to any solution of the North Korea nuclear crisis -- and China has opposed sanctioning North Korea in the U.N. Security Council.

Some administration officials have argued privately that Washington must make every effort to cooperate with China now if it expects China’s help in enforcing a nonproliferation strategy against North Korea later should negotiations fail.

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Regional Diplomacy

Bush discussed options for a security agreement Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who convened the first six-party meeting of regional allies to address the North Korean nuclear crisis in August in Beijing and is considered influential with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. In addition to North Korea, China and the U.S., the six-party group includes South Korea, Japan and Russia. But Chinese negotiators have since been having trouble luring North Korea back to the bargaining table.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” said that while the U.S. is “not interested ... in a treaty or in a nonaggression pact,” Bush “is anxious to move forward within that six-party framework ... to find ways to provide North Korea the kind of security assurance they’re looking for.”

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it is not clear what form security assurances might take, but said it would likely be an “agreement with a small ‘a.’ ” By contrast, treaties have a higher stature in international law and require ratification by the U.S. Senate.

Powell, asked on TV if the deal might be a simple written statement that the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea would not invade North Korea, said: “That’s certainly one model that can be looked at.”

A second administration official said the proposed agreement could be signed before a complete dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program, as long as the country could demonstrate “verifiable progress.”

“We’re looking to come up with security assurances within a six-party context so that any moves on our part would be conditional on verifiable progress on their part,” the official said. “We’re not saying everything has to be done before we will do anything. In fact, we’re saying the opposite.”

Previously, the administration has taken a harder line, saying no concessions would be made to North Korea until it dismantled its nuclear program.

The second administration official said the Chinese president expressed interest in the idea, and the United States was hopeful Hu would move to hold another round of six-party talks with the North Koreans to discuss it, perhaps before the end of the year.

Japan, too, expressed interest in Bush’s proposal. “We welcome the forward-looking stance by the United States,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said today. “It’s desirable that the U.S. present various options.”

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Administration Is Wary

U.S. officials say the United States is not prepared to sign a one-on-one agreement with North Korea because it feels the reclusive communist state has violated such agreements in the past -- including a 1994 deal to freeze its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for energy assistance.

“So we’re not likely to go back down that road,” national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “But we will be more than willing to talk about how, within the six-party context, we can address the North Korea security concerns in concrete ways.”

U.S. officials said they believed North Korea would be more hesitant to violate an agreement that included its neighbors and traditional allies China and Russia.

Bush intends to use the 21-member Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that begins today to bring security matters -- including terrorism -- to the top of the group’s agenda, even though APEC focuses on trade and economic issues.

The president and the first lady spent most of the day amid the pomp and grandeur of a formal state visit to Thailand -- touring Bangkok’s Grand Palace and its legendary Temple of the Emerald Buddha, having an audience with the king and queen, and attending a state dinner in the evening.

Bush pressed his anti-terrorism message in an address to Thai soldiers at army headquarters, thanking them for their recent service in Afghanistan and their current service in Iraq.

“Nations that choose to fight terror are defending their own safety and securing the peace of all mankind,” Bush said, standing on a podium draped with red and saffron bunting before several hundred troops in black berets and olive camouflage. “The United States of America has made its choice. The kingdom of Thailand has made its choice. We will meet this danger and overcome this evil.”

Thailand sent 130 troops to Afghanistan, including 80 army engineers who helped rebuild Kabul’s airport. It has also mobilized 447 troops, also largely engineers, to serve in rebuilding programs in Iraq.

Bush is midway through a six-country, seven-day tour of Asia to thank nations that have lent moral, military and financial support to the U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The president hopes to earn new pledges of support for the Iraqi occupation as well as anti-terrorism efforts throughout the region.

Thailand also earned praise for helping capture reputed Al Qaeda leader Hambali, believed to have been the terrorist group’s top operative in Southeast Asia and mastermind of the nightclub bombings last year in Bali that killed 202 people.

Bush’s meeting with Chinese President Hu lasted an hour -- longer than most of the president’s meetings with foreign leaders -- in a sign of the leaders’ lengthy agenda. In addition to North Korea, the two discussed Chinese currency policy, which the administration blames for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China.

Bush urged Hu to consider ending government intervention in the currency market that keeps the dollar and U.S. exports comparably more expensive.

Hu said that “in theory, China supports moving toward a market-determined floating exchange rate,” the second administration official said. “But he did caution that in practice he doesn’t think China’s there yet.”

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Times staff writers Sonni Efron in Washington and Barbara Demick in Seoul contributed to this report.