In an interview with a Japanese TV on Saturday, chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said, "It is the judgment of the United States that there is not an ongoing cooperation with Syria in this area." He suggested that North Korea's cooperation with Syria will not pose a problem if North Korea gives a full account of its nuclear programs, presumably next month.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also seemed to downplay the issue by saying the Syria connection “shouldn't have come as a surprise to any of the six-party members."

The U.S. apparently wishes to push the idea of striking North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The North takes a keen interest in the issue since it wants support from international financial organizations. Some in the U.S. government are telling the press that North Korea has done nothing related to terrorism for the past six months, one of the important conditions for being struck from the list.

All considered, the Bush administration has made it clear that Syria connection will not stand in the way of the six-party talks and that the U.S. won't make an issue of it if North Korea positively cooperates in verifying its nuclear disablement and dismantling its nuclear facilities. Thus it sets great store by a visit to Pyongyang by Sung Kim, director of the Korean affairs desk at the U.S. State Department.

But in a letter sent recently to U.S. President George W. Bush, 14 Republican senators expressed their discontent with the way the U.S. government is dealing with North Korea over the nuclear issue.

In a Washington Post article on Saturday, Winston Lord, former U.S. ambassador to China, and Leslie Gelb, former U.S. assistant secretary of State, said, "Our fear… is that Bush, feeling the glow of a rare foreign policy accomplishment, may proceed to cement a legacy" at all cost, overlooking such factors that make North Korea seem untrustworthy.

A high-level diplomatic source in Washington said, "As the North Korea-Syrian nuclear cooperation turned out to be true, not only hawkish but other congressmen are saying the Bush administration has made too many concessions.”

Meanwhile, South Korea's new chief nuclear negotiator Kim Sook will meet Hill in Washington on Monday to discuss the North's promised declaration of its nuclear activities. Kim left for Washington on Sunday. According to a South Korean government official, in his first meeting with Hill since he assumed the new role, the two chief nuclear negotiators will discuss ways to review North Korea's nuclear declaration, verify and monitor what the declaration claims, and resume the six-party talks -- all based on the outcome of the North Korea-U.S. talks held in Pyongyang last Tuesday through Thursday.

Before leaving Seoul, Kim told reporters Washington's recent announcement on the Pyongyang-Damascus nuclear cooperation, "brought worries about the prevention of nuclear proliferation to the fore once again."

(englishnews@chosun.com )