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Even as the U.S. officially stresses a diplomatic solution to North Korea¡¯s nuclear weapons program, behind closed doors the idea of sanctions against the Stalinist country is gaining ground.
The New York Times reported Saturday (local time) that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney asked South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to suspend fertilizer aid to North Korea. Cheney was said to have told Ban that if Korea wanted to help Kim Jong-il choose between nuclear weapons and deepening isolation, it needed to respond in concert with other nations trying to disarm North Korea.
But Ban told a press conference he explained to Cheney that Seoul has yet to decide on Pyongyang¡¯s request for an unprecedented 500,000 tons of fertilizer, adding the vice president himself did not mention the issue. Meanwhile, the American press continues to report plans for sanctions against North Korea. Another NYT report quoted a high-ranking Bush administration official as saying the U.S. government could look for new ways to block the flow of money into North Korea.
That is raising fears that intra-Korean economic cooperation like the Kaesong Industrial Zone project could become a bone of contention between the U.S. and South Korea. Ban said his government would push ahead with the project but could review it if the situation deteriorates. He also said the U.S. and South Korea needed to closely analyze Pyongyang¡¯s recent announcement that it has nuclear weapons before making a decision on intra-Korean cooperation.
The rift between Pyongyang and Washington showed no signs of healing. White House spokesman Scott McClellan flatly rejected bilateral talks between North Korea and the U.S., while the Chosun Shinbo, the mouthpiece of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, said in a dispatch from Pyongyang on Saturday that 2005 would be the year when North Korea¡¯s strength and U.S. military and diplomatic pressure collide head on.
Meanwhile, a leaked dossier from the National Security Council confirms that the chief of the Chinese Foreign Ministry¡¯s North America bureau warned North Korea in January that unless there was progress in the six-party talks within the next two or three months, the U.S. might push for a military solution.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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