Korean peninsula must be nuclear free say Bush and Roh

US President George W Bush and newly elected South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun have agreed that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-weapons free and that the current stand-off with North Korea should be achieved through peaceful means.

“We’re making good progress toward achieving that peaceful resolution ... in regard to North Korea,” Mr Bush said in a Rose Garden statement with Roh by his side last night.

Roh, who in the past has urged the US against slapping economic sanctions on the North or considering military force, said that he came to his meeting with Mr Bush with “both concerns and hopes in my mind”, but that the US President had dispelled the concerns.

“Now I return to Korea with only hopes in my mind,” Roh said.

The two presidents issued a joint statement asserting that their countries “will not tolerate” nuclear weapons in North Korea and invited other nations in the region and Russia to help defuse the current nuclear stand-off.

“Escalatory moves by North Korea will only lead to its greater isolation and a more desperate situation in the North,” their statement said.

It was the first time the two leaders had met face to face.

“I have found the President to be an easy man to talk to. He expresses his opinions clearly and he’s easy to understand,” Mr Bush said.

“One thing is for certain, we will work to have the best possible relations between our two countries.”

Mr Bush said they also discussed economic issues. He expressed confidence that South Korea “will continue to be an engine for economic growth and vitality”.

The two leaders spoke briefly from a podium set up in the Rose Garden, which was bright with evening sunlight, then turned without taking questions to the residence portion of the White House for dinner.

In their joint statement, the two leaders welcomed China’s role in hosting a three-way meeting last month that included the North and the US.

But the statement also suggested that subsequent talks should also include South Korea and Japan.

Participation of all these nations is “essential for a successful and comprehensive settlement”, the statement said.

“Russia and other nations can also play a constructive role,” it added.

“President Roh and President Bush reaffirmed that they will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea,” the statement said.

Earlier, Roh appealed to the US against any rush to a decision to reposition the 37,000 US troops now stationed in South Korea.

His office said in a statement that US Vice-President Dick Cheney told Roh over lunch that “US troops should stay in South Korea because they guarantee security in the region”.

US officials did not dispute the account.

There have been increasing public demonstrations in South Korea against the US military presence.

Years ago, Roh demanded that US troops leave but now he is seeking to delay US proposals to move troops away from the “Demilitarised Zone”, which separates the two Koreas.

Roh told Mr Cheney: “I understand the principle and necessity of relocation of American forces in South Korea.”

But, he added, such a “realignment of US forces affects Korean politics and the economy”, according to the South Korean statement.

“There has to be close coordination between the US and South Korea on this subject,” Roh was quoted as saying.

Mr Bush and Roh both are emphasising a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.

But White House officials said ahead of the meeting that the US would not rule out force as an option to keep Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

“The President never takes his options off the table in any circumstance,” Mr Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told reporters.

“No one should be willing to give in to the kind of blackmail that the North Koreans have been practicing on the world for a number of years now.”

South Korea and the US agree that North Korea must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, but their approaches differ.

Roh favours more engagement with North Korea.

But the Bush administration is wary of negotiating with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, with top Bush advisers divided internally on whether to pursue a policy of containment or increased dialogue.

Roh has cautioned that a diplomatic solution to resolve the nuclear stand-off will take time, and that many difficulties lie ahead.

At talks in Beijing last month, North Korea said it would give up its nuclear and missile programmes in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees.

The Beijing talks were the first since the crisis came up last October, when Washington said North Korea had acknowledged running a secret nuclear weapons programme in violation of a 1994 treaty with Washington.

North Korea subsequently withdrew from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and took steps to restart nuclear facilities frozen under the pact.