“We expect them not to develop nuclear weapons, and if they choose to do so — their choice — then I will reconsider whether or not we will start the bold initiative that I talked ... about,” Bush told reporters.
His comments were the latest signal of US interest in reopening discussions with North Korea to resolve the nuclear standoff that began last year when U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.
The crisis escalated as the North Koreans expelled International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, pulled out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatened to resume missile testing.
Although the United States has insisted it would not offer North Korea concessions or inducements to roll back those decisions and its nuclear programme, it has signalled a willingness to pursue dialogue to resolve the confrontation.
Bush reaffirmed his determination to seek a peaceful answer and appeared to take a step back from his previously stated unwillingness to engage with North Korea.
“I’m absolutely convinced this issue will be solved in a peaceful way,” he said at the Oval Office before a meeting with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
“People say, ‘Well, are you willing to talk to North Korea?’ Of course we are,” Bush said. “But what this nation won’t do is be blackmailed.”
He pointed out that before North Korea’s recent actions he had instructed Secretary of State Colin Powell to approach Pyongyang about “an initiative which would talk about energy and food because we care deeply about the suffering of the North Korean people”.
In June 2001, Bush offered a comprehensive dialogue with the North as part of a “bold approach” in which the United States would take steps to improve the lives of the North Korean people through an easing of sanctions and other political steps.
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly travelled to North Korea in October to discuss the initiative in the first significant high-level contact between Washington and Pyongyang since Bush took office in Jan 2001.
But during those talks Kelly said North Korea confirmed a hitherto secret highly enriched uranium programme and engagement broke off. The North Koreans have since denied ever making such a statement.
The White House welcomed both China’s offer to host talks between the United States and North Korea over their nuclear standoff and Russia’s plans to send a top official to key capitals to help find a diplomatic solution.
“I view this as an opportunity to bind together nations in the neighbourhood and around the world to make it clear to the North Koreans that we expect this issue to be resolved peacefully, and we expect them to disarm,” Bush said.
The conciliatory noises from Washington — including a statement by Kelly that the United States might be willing to help North Korea in the energy area if it agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme — come after weeks of rising tension and as the Bush administration is contemplating dis-arming Iraq by military force.—Reuters