Politic-Economic-Society-Tech

Bush to visit South Korea in October

US President George W. Bush is scheduled to visit South Korea in October before attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, officials said Monday, reports AFP.

The planned visit here, the first since Bush took office in January, would allow him to hold a second summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung on North Korea issues, they said.

"President Bush will visit South Korea as part of his Asian tour to join the APEC summit," a foreign ministry official told the news agency asking for anonymity.

He said no exact date for Bush's visit has been fixed yet but added he is "very likely" to come to Seoul before he attends the APEC summit, set to be held in Shanghai on October 20 and 21. An English-language newspaper Korea Herald on Monday quoted an unnamed official here as saying US officials proposed that Bush make a two-day visit to South Korea somewhere between October 17-19.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed Bush's trip at talks with South Korean officials last week, Korea Herald said.

But the ministry official declined to confirm the report.

The annual APEC summit, which is to attract leaders from 21 Asian and Pacific countries to Shanghai, will let Bush launch his first Asian tour, which will likely include Japan as well, he said. Ministry officials here forecast North Korea issues will dominate the agenda during the second Bush-Kim summit in Seoul.The first summit between the two leaders was held in Washington in March, after Bush froze dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

After a policy review, Bush said in June he was ready to re-engage Pyongyang but wanted any talks to cover the full scope of relations with Washington's last Cold War enemy, including reductions in its armed forces.

Pyongyang has said it would not resume talks with Washington under the terms proposed by Bush. It has also accused the United States of fabricating threats from the communist state to justify US anti-missile defence plans.

The United States earlier this month conducted a successful test of a new missile interception system, triggering an angry response from North Korea, Russia and China.Kim has urged Washington to actively engage North Korea as part of his efforts to resume stalled inter-Korean talks.

But the United States has been reluctant to follow Kim's demand, prompting concerns in Seoul that engagement with Pyongyang could run out of steam.On Monday, Powell piled more pressure on North Korea for a reply to a US offer to resume dialogue.

"The Koreans are anxious to not see the momentum stop," Powell said on his plane headed for Australia.

"There is a concern that you would just sort of run into a flat period for a long period of time and that would not be in the interest of President Kim Dae-Jung's policy," he said.

source: Asia Pacific /bangladesh.com/, July 30, 2001