US and S Korea at odds over Kim punishment

US and S Korea at odds over Kim punishment
By Anna Fifield in Seoul
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 19 2006 11:12 | Last updated: October 19 2006 21:56


The US and South Korea tried to present a united front on the North Korean nuclear crisis on Thursday, again warning of “grave consequences” if there were a second test. But they remained at odds over how to punish Kim Jong-il’s regime.

As China sent a special envoy to Pyongyang to speak directly to Mr Kim about last week’s nuclear test, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, arrived in Seoul amid stern domestic criticism of Washington’s apparent attempts to pressure the South Korean government to stop economic engagement with the North.

The South Korean government says it may “improve”, rather than suspend its joint tourism and commercial projects with North Korea but US officials have made clear they view the Mount Kumgang tourist resort as a cash cow for the North. South Korea has sent about $950m (€758m, £508m) to North Korea since tours began in 1998.

Ms Rice told a news conference on Thursday, after meeting Roh Moo-hyun, South Korea’s president, and Ban Ki-moon, foreign minister: “I did not come to South Korea, nor will I go anywhere else, to try to dictate to governments what they ought to do in response to [United Nations] resolution 1718.

“What I do think is very important is that everyone takes stock of the leverage we have to get North Korea to return to the six-party talks and to negotiate the serious dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programme.”

The day before the talks, Song Min-soon, the president’s chief security adviser, suggested at a conference that the US needed to pay more attention to South Korea’s unique security situation, adding that the US “has fought more wars than any other nation in the history of its establishment and survival”.

In addition to the inter-Korean co-operation projects, the two parties are at odds over South Korea’s involvement in the proliferation security initiative aimed at interdicting ships carrying weapons of mass des-truction technology. But Seoul is reluctant to join, again for fear of upsetting the fragile security balance.

However, Ms Rice and Mr Ban insisted the US-South Korean alliance “could not be stronger”, with Ms Rice saying they were now discussing how inspections and interdiction at sea might work. She said: “The US has no desire to do anything to escalate this. The key is to live up to the obligations that all of us undertook that North Korea should not be able to traffic in weapons or weapons technology, nor should they be able to receive help, assistance, financing for their nuclear weapons programmes.”

Meanwhile, Mr Ban warned North Korea that a second test would “aggravate” the situation. “We agreed that, in case it happens, there should be more grave consequences.”

In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said Tang Jianxuan, the state councillor, had been sent to Pyong-yang as a special envoy for President Hu Jiantao and had met Kim Jong-il on Thursday. The foreign ministry said the visit was “very meaningful to the relations between the two countries”.

Ms Rice said she had not yet received a “read out” on the meeting.