Bush Welcomes Roh, Urges Seoul-Pyongyang Warming : Koreas: But the White House says the ‘pace and scope of any improvement’ in relations depends on the north.

Hailing this week’s “historic meeting” between the presidents of South Korea and the Soviet Union, the White House called Wednesday for similar steps between the two Koreas as President Bush conferred with South Korean President Roh Tae Woo.

Roh, speaking to reporters afterward, said that he and Bush agreed that the two nations on the divided Korean Peninsula “have to cooperate so that we can melt down the ice which still exists from the Cold War years.”

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater noted that while the United States seeks better relations with North Korea, “the pace and scope of any improvement will depend importantly on North Korea’s actions.”

Bush and Roh reviewed developments in Korea at the White House two days after the South Korean leader met with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in San Francisco. That meeting marked a breakthrough in Asian diplomacy and climaxed several months of furtive negotiations among senior officials of South Korea, the Soviet Union and the United States.

South Korea and the Soviet Union do not have diplomatic relations, and the meeting, aggressively pursued by the South Koreans, was a milestone in efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Asked about the prospects for unification with the north, Roh told reporters outside the White House after meeting with Bush:

“The problem is the opening and reform in North Korea, and I and President Gorbachev agreed to combine efforts along that line. I am hopeful that this meeting will help greatly the process of reunification.”

He said that he and Bush discussed the prospects for U.S.-South Korean cooperation in working for a closer relationship between Seoul and North Korea.

In addition, he said the meeting with Gorbachev might lead to talks to bring about a reduction in U.S. troop strength in South Korea and would help reduce tensions on the peninsula, which has been divided for more than four decades.

The United States has more than 40,000 troops there and has announced plans to withdraw approximately 10% of them.

A senior South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Roh told Bush that he had given Gorbachev a three-point message to be passed along to North Korea, a Soviet ally.

The message, the official said, expressed Roh’s interest in meeting Kim Il Sung, the North Korean leader. It also called for North Korea to open its society to the rest of the world and gave assurances that South Korea is not seeking military superiority over the north.

Roh told Gorbachev that “we have no intention of attacking them (North Korea), unless they attack us first,” the official said.

Fitzwater cited Bush’s support for Roh’s meeting with Gorbachev and Roh’s policies aimed at expanding South Korean ties with socialist states. He told reporters: “The United States seeks a reciprocal process of improved relations with both the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The United States reaffirms that it is not a threat to North Korean security and we seek to improve relations with that country.”

However, reflecting the view that rapprochement depends largely on a more relaxed approach toward the West in the hard-line North Korean leadership, another White House official said: “The north has to do better before that will happen.”