 Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea on Saturday tried to hammer out a unified stance on how to lure North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks. On Friday, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in a major policy speech, urged calm following North Korea's recent claim that it has nuclear weapons, and he said it will take both flexibility and a principled stand to persuade the communist nation to abandon its atomic weapons program.
| He probably thinks those two points are reconcilable ... |
``Although an unexpected development occurred, it doesn't greatly change the fundamental structure'' of the nuclear standoff, Roh said in a speech marking the second anniversary of his inauguration. ``We will be flexible but won't lose our kneepads principled stance,'' Roh said. Saturday's meeting in Seoul, the first of its kind since the North's announcement, sought to narrow differences between the United States, Japan and South Korea on how to handle North Korea - an isolated country under totalitarian rule. The meeting brought together South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon; Kenichiro Sasae, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau; and Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul who has been named Washington's top negotiator in the North Korean nuclear dispute.
Japan's Kyodo News Agency, citing multiple anonymous sources, reported that China - the North's last major ally - has asked Japan to convince the United States to be more flexible. The reported request came after a visit to North Korea early this week by a senior Chinese Communist Party leader, Wang Jiarui. But, Hill has insisted on ``coordinated'' actions, warning that Pyongyang could try to exploit divisions among the participants of the multilateral discussions.
| Since that's about all they have left. |
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