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President Roh Moo-hyun and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush agreed on Thursday that Washington¡¯s handover of wartime operational control of Korean troops to Seoul serves the development of the bilateral alliance. But the two leaders decided to leave the date for the handover to the bilateral Security Consultative Meeting in October. Nonetheless, it was the death knell for Combined Forces Command, which has played a central role in deterring war on the Korean Peninsula.
The two presidents also agreed to seek ¡°joint measures¡± to resume six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program, which have been stalled for almost a year. Senior officials will discuss measures taken so far and make additional coordination efforts to take necessary steps. No details were revealed.
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President Roh Moo-hyun meets with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House on Thursday./ Yonhap
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¡°The two leaders agreed that resuming the six-party talks is crucial and that the two allies need to step up joint efforts to that end,¡± a high-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official said after the meeting. The pair announced results of their discussion at a press conference after the summit. It remains to be seen if North Korea will end its boycott of the talks, which came in protest against the U.S. freeze of Pyongyang¡¯s account in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia last September. In addition, Roh and Bush agreed to work harder to conclude a planned free trade agreement between the two countries within this year, confirming the view that it will strengthen the bilateral alliance.
Earlier, Roh was quoted as saying, ¡°It is desirable that U.S. efforts to implement its laws and efforts to resume the six-party talks go hand in hand in a harmonious way.¡± He was referring to the financial sanctions, which came in reaction to Pyongyang¡¯s suspected involvement in counterfeiting of U.S. dollars, during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson before the summit. The implication is that Roh wants Washington to ease the sanctions if that will persuade the North back to the negotiating table. The summit was the sixth between the two presidents and came 10 months after the two met in Gyeongju last November.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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