Washington: US President George W Bush said on January 14 he is "absolutely
convinced" that the North Korean issue "will be solved in a peaceful way", but
continued to be tough on Iraq, stating that time was running out for Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein to disarm.
"Time is running out on Saddam Hussein to disarm. I am sick and tired of games and
deception. And that is my view of timetables," Bush said even as UN weapons
inspectors said they would need more time to establish whether Iraq was harbouring
weapons of mass destruction.
"What I have in mind for Saddam Hussein is to disarm. The United Nations spoke with
one voice. We said we expect Saddam Hussein, for the sake of peace, to disarm. And
so the world came together and we have given him one last chance to disarm. So far,
I have not seen any evidence that he is disarming," he said at a joint appearance
with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski in Washington.
Commenting on the situation in North Korea, he said that prior to North Korea making
the decision it has made, he had instructed the Secretary of State to approach North
Korea about a bold initiative, an initiative that would talk about energy and food,
because "we care deeply" about the suffering of the North Korean people.
"And then the North Koreans made a decision to ignore international norms and the
agreements that they had reached, and started building potential nuclear weapons,
enriching uranium. And now they have expelled or are in the process of kicking out
the International Atomic Energy people," Bush said.
"I view this as an opportunity to bind together nations in the neighbourhood and
around the world to make it clear to the North Koreans that we expect this issue to
be resolved peacefully, and we expect them to disarm," he said.
"We expect them not to develop nuclear weapons. And if they choose to do so – their
choice – then I will reconsider whether or not we will start the bold initiative
that I talked to Secretary Powell about.
"People say, well, are you willing to talk to North Korea? Of course we are. But
what this nation won't do is to be blackmailed. And what this nation will do is use
this as an opportunity to bring the Chinese and the Russians and South Koreans and
the Japanese to the table to solve this problem peacefully," Bush said.
President Kwasniewski agreed with Bush and said the Korean case absolutely cannot be
compared with the Iraq case.
"And we have a chance to discuss about North Korea with very serious partners who
are thinking the same way. I mean Japan, Russia, China and South Korea. We have a
chance to propose something positive to North Korea – may be not for the regime,
because when I read some information about this regime, it is not so easy to propose
something special."
But, "I am sure we have enough possibilities to propose a positive solution for this
case, but with all international partners," Kwasniewski said.
PTI
