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US President George W. Bush said terrorist organizations which hook up with nations that develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are the most dangerous threat to the nation and "freedom-loving people" Saturday, stressing that he's going to work with leaders of Korea, China and Japan "in our mutual concerns, starting with fighting the war against terror."
Speaking at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, a stop-off before his Asian tour, Bush emphasized that the US "won't rest until we have destroyed terrorism, until we have denied the threat of global terrorism." President Bush arrived in Tokyo, Japan, the first stop in the itinerary on Sunday afternoon, and will visit Seoul on Tuesday afternoon for a summit meeting with President Kim Dae-jung the following day.
In a radio address on his Asian trip aired prior to his departure from Washington DC, Bush discussed his schedule in the country, mentioning a plan to visit the Demilitarized Zone, "one of the most dangerous places on Earth, where barbed wire marks a line dividing freedom and oppression."
Prior to this, President Bush had interviews with journalists from Korea, China and Japan on February 15 (EST) and said that unless Pyongyang provide social transparency and discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction, he has no choice but to assume the worst case scenario.
In addition, Bush suggested that the North would need to move back its conventional weapons, deployed up front aiming Korean people and USFK, to help improve US-North relation, adding that he himself will bring up the issue in a US-North dialogue. The US president expressed complete support for President Kim's "sunshine policy," while he has no illusions about it.
In related news, President Kim Dae-jung had a closed-door meeting with foreign affairs and national security advisors, Sunday, and discussed strategies for the summit meeting scheduled on February 20.
(Park Du-shik, dspark@chosun.com )
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