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Seoul is doing ¡°virtually nothing¡± to sanction North Korea over its nuclear test and faces a tense summit with Washington later this month, a former Bush administration official told the Washington Post on Tuesday. ¡°The Republic of Korea is doing virtually nothing to impose a cost on the North," the former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council Michael Green said. He said the meeting between the two presidents on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam ¡°will be a difficult discussion."
Asked what cost should be imposed, Green said, "Does it mean we're going to attack North Korea because of the nuclear weapons program? I think the answer is no. Does it mean we go on with business as usual? Of course not.¡±
U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to use the meeting with President Roh Moo Hyun ¡°to pressure him to do more to enforce the UN sanctions" on North Korea, the daily said. It recalled that Seoul on Monday declined to take part in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative to intercept shipments of weapons of mass destruction ¡°that may have involved the South Korean military stopping North Korean ships.¡±
A senior U.S. official on Monday said it would be ¡°appropriate to have some recognition¡± in the leaders' statement to be produced at the APEC meeting on how to sanction North Korea over its nuclear test. "I think the decision has been made to have an informal foreign ministers' meeting at APEC, and in that meeting I think there will be a full, fulsome discussion of North Korean issues" among participating countries in six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. "You are absolutely right that North Korea will be a subject of discussion, particularly at the bilateral meetings that are held by the president and other leaders at the APEC summit.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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