Bush Orders N. Korea Security Talks

With a major policy review completed, President Bush on Wednesday ordered his foreign policy team to resume security negotiations with North Korea on a long list of U.S. concerns about the authoritarian regime.

Bush administration officials, who have used tough rhetoric about the North Korean government since assuming office, want to discuss the Communist regime’s development and export of missiles, as well as the heavy deployment of conventional forces on the Korean peninsula, aides said.

U.S. officials also want to take up the issue of humanitarian assistance with the regime and discuss how North Korea interacts with the wider region, said officials, who requested anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the subject.

In a statement, Bush said the administration’s approach “will offer North Korea the opportunity to demonstrate the seriousness of its desire for improved relations.” He said U.S. sanctions could be eased if North Korea “responds affirmatively.”

The United States will issue a “robust” endorsement of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s “sunshine policy,” which seeks to reopen the peninsula and reconcile the North and South, a senior administration official said.

North and South Korea are still technically at war almost half a century after a cease-fire ended the Korean War.

The administration drew fire this year when Bush appeared to show limited enthusiasm for Kim’s sunshine policy.

“We intend to resume talks. We will take up all these issues directly with North and to the extent we can get answers, we will make progress,” the official said.

He said the U.S. wants North Korea to better implement efforts to limit its nuclear development, comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency rules, ban missile exports in a verifiable manner and reduce conventional arms.

If the North Koreans cooperate on these issues, “we would be willing to expand our help for the people, ease economic restrictions and take political steps, including eventual recognition,” the official said.

He said it remained unclear when and where the discussions would take place.

During President Clinton’s final months in office, the U.S. and North Korea were moving toward a deal under which the Communist regime would curb development and export of long-range missiles.

But the Bush administration entered office taking a tough line. The president launched the policy review in March, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was untrustworthy and did not live up to the regime’s commitments.

The administration’s announcement that it intended to resume talks appeared to be a sign that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had prevailed in the interagency review over more hard-line Republicans who are wary of dealing with the North, U.S. officials said. Powell in March signaled his interest in resuming talks on missiles, only to be overruled by Bush.

The secretary of State has contended that talks should include discussion of a reduction in the huge military force that the North has deployed along the demilitarized zone that divides the peninsula’s two nations.

Powell will outline the new policy to South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung Soo today during a working lunch.

The U.S. also intends to work closely with Japan and South Korea on issues related to the North.

Administration officials said they intend their effort to be broader in scope than the one pursued by the Clinton administration. During her visit to the North last October, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright worked primarily on a deal to limit the development, sales and export of ballistic missiles.

“Due to the limited timing, the last administration really focused on the missile issue, rightly,” one official said. “Due to the more expanded timing available to this administration, we’re back to identifying [a] full range of issues.”

Some outside analysts said the announcement seemed to signal that the Bush administration was feeling international pressure to resume talks. But some said the talks may not make much progress if the U.S. takes a tough line on missiles and conventional forces.

Kurt Campbell, a Pentagon official during the Clinton administration who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the announcement “will be most welcome news in both halves of the peninsula. However, there are important details, including what will be expected in terms of conventional arms [and] verification procedures . . . that have yet to be clarified. The devil is in the details.”