EU Takes Steps on Emissions, Koreas

European Union leaders meeting here Saturday urged the U.S. to recommit to cutting carbon dioxide emissions as part of a global charter to prevent a deterioration in climate conditions.

The Bush administration has said it would not call for national controls on carbon dioxide emissions although the United States and other developed nations agreed in 1997 to cut heat-trapping carbon emissions.

The EU also announced that it will dispatch its own team of mediators to help invigorate the peace process between North and South Korea and fill a breach left by the Bush administration’s decision to postpone talks with the North. The EU’s decision breaks from its past deference to U.S. leadership when dealing with the Korean peninsula.