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South Korea's Roh criticizes US for unilateral plan
Korea Herald South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun voiced skepticism yesterday about the U.S. move to apply a containment policy on North Korea, urging Washington to fully consult with Seoul before making any decisions on how to respond to Pyongyang's nuclear threat. "I'm skeptical about the effectiveness of the reported 'tailored containment' policy of the United States as a means to rein in North Korea," Roh said in a news conference. I'm skeptical about the amount of effort we should put into defending South Korea... The U.S. media recently reported that the Bush administration is working on a "tailored containment" policy of applying economic and political pressure to force North Korea to scrap its nuclear program. Roh said that the United States should give priority to South Korea's views before making any decisions on Korean issues. "If the United States makes and announces a unilateral decision, and South Korea follows it, it can't be called real cooperation between the two countries," he said. If nukes weren't involved, I'd be all for Bush just telling the SKors that the problem was theirs — let us know when they'd solved it. If North Korea happens to devastate South Korea, it's no skin off our collective fore. Since the country now appears to be populated by ingrates, Rantburg's advice to Bush would be to do whatever's best for us, and to let the South Koreans fend for themselves. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-01 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=8943 |