USA: U.S. President George W. Bush says multi-lateral approach towards North Korea is necessary

U.S. President George W. Bush said that the United States needed to stay engaged in a multi-lateral approach towards curbing North Korea's nuclear intensions, and that the United States needed to remain in Iraq to prevent to keep the country from becoming a launching pad for extremist attacks. Bush told a news conference he saw a new consensus emerging among the world's major powers that it was vital to take action against North Korea. China and Russia, North Korea's main trading partners, have been more tolerant of Pyongyang in the past. "The United States is working to confirm North Korea's claim, but this claim, itself, constitutes a threat to international peace and stability. In response to North Korea's actions, we're working with our partners in the region and the United Nations Security Council to ensure there are serious repercussions for the regime in Pyongyang. I've spoken with other world leaders, including Japan, China, South Korea, and Russia. We all agree that there must be a strong Security Council resolution that will require North Korea to abide by its international commitments to dismantle its nuclear programs. This resolution should also specify a series of measures to prevent North Korea from exporting nuclear or missile technologies, and prevent financial transactions or asset transfers that would help North Korea develop its nuclear and missile capabilities," Bush said at the news conference in the White House Rose Garden. Bush said he was committed to diplomacy and had no intention of attacking North Korea, but added that the United States would honour its security commitment to allies in the region. "The United States remains committed to diplomacy. The United States also reserves all options to defend our friends and our interests in the region against the threats from North Korea. So, in response to North Korea's provocation, we'll increase defense cooperation with our allies, including cooperation on ballistic missile defense to protect against North Korean aggression, and cooperation to prevent North Korea from exporting nuclear and missile technologies. Our goals remain clear: peace and security in Northeast Asia and a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula," Bush said. President Bush rejected demands that he engage directly with North Korea on a bilateral basis, as Pyongyang wants, saying this approach with North Korea has failed in the past. "It's the intransigence of the North Korean leader that speaks volumes about the process. It is his unwillingness to choose a way forward for his country -- a better way forward for his country. It is his decisions. And what's changed since then is that we now have other parties at the table who have made it clear to North Korea that they share the same goals of the United States, which is a nuclear weapons-free peninsula. Obviously, I'm listening very carefully to this debate. I can remember the time when it was said that the Bush administration goes it alone too often in the world, which I always thought was a bogus claim to begin with. And now all of a sudden people are saying, the Bush administration ought to be going alone with North Korea. But it didn't work in the past is my point. The strategy did not work. I learned a lesson from that and decided that the best way to convince Kim Jong-Il to change his mind on a nuclear weapons program is to have others send the same message," Bush said. In New York, major Security Council powers again met with Japan to discuss a range of punitive measures against North Korea and diplomats expected a decision on this by Friday. A broad consensus appeared to be building but some reservations have been expressed by China and Russia, North Korea's neighbors. In Iraq, President Bush rejected the calculations of a recent survey which estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Bush said that while flexibility was needed in dealing with the stabilisation of Iraq, it was important for the United States to remain in the country until its new government could support and sustain itself. "I fully understand the American people are seeing unspeakable violence on their TV screens. These are tough times in Iraq. The enemy is doing everything within its power to destroy the government and to drive us out of the Middle East, starting with driving us out of Iraq before the mission is done. The stakes are high. As a matter of fact, they couldn't be higher. If we were to abandon that country before the Iraqis can defend their young democracy the terrorists would take control of Iraq and establish a new safe haven from which to launch new attacks on America. How do I know that would happen? Because that's what the enemy has told us would happen. That's what they have said. And as Commander-in-Chief of the United States military, and as a person working to secure this country, I take the words of the enemy very seriously, and so should the American people," Bush said. The President said that while he knew Americans were concerned about Iraq, he felt his political party would not suffer from it in upcoming Congressional elections. He said that Republicans would benefit from the economy, and Americans concerns over homeland security.

ITN Source | October 12, 2006

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