President Keeps Trying to Lure NK to Bargaining Table


By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent


President Roh Moo-hyun, right, is escorted by French President Jacques Chirac, prior to a summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday. / Korea Times

PARIS _ South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun Sunday said North Korea detects a crisis because the United States thinks the Kim Jong-il regime will collapse in the end, adding that such hopes are making the current nuclear negotiations difficult.

In a speech to South Korean residents in France, he said relevant parties in the nuclear talks will have to narrow differences between China and South Korea, which do not want a North Korean ``regime change’’ and the countries that do.

His remarks, apparently targeting some hawkish Americans represented by the ``neocons,’’ were understood to be in line with a speech he gave in Los Angeles last month, in which he urged the U.S. not to take a hard-line attitude toward the North.

During successive visits to Britain, Poland and France, Roh hardly spent a day without commenting on the nuclear standoff. In most cases, his remarks were directed at both sides _ urging the U.S. to refrain from hard-line attitudes on one hand and calling on North Korea to return to the negotiation table on the other.

And the reasoning behind his words seems to be have more clear contrasts, including the logic of the ``regime change.’’

Following his remarks in Warsaw that Beijing and Seoul do not want the sudden collapse of the North, Roh went one step further in Paris by contrasting the two with the U.S., which has put more pressure on Pyongyang with its Human Rights Act.

``South Korea should have the strongest voice in the course of narrowing the gap,’’ he said. ``If I had to get red-faced with someone (with anger), I would have no choice but to.’’

However, Roh tried to balance himself between the two sides, warning that nobody can say what will happen if the North persists in developing nuclear weapons despite the efforts of other parties.

``I don’t think the North Koreans are that unwise,’’ he said. ``I believe they will make a political decision in the end.’’

Roh, who arrived here Sunday, held a summit with French President Jacques Chirac on Monday to discuss bilateral cooperation in information-technology, such as bio and nanotechnology and the space industry, as well as the North Korean nuclear weapons program and other global issues.

Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom said in a press briefing that seven French firms, including the construction company Bouygues, signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to invest some $837 million (871 billion won) in Korea.

Roh will return home on Wednesday, completing his 11-day trip to Laos and three European nations.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr