Clinton Wants Korea Talks To Include Superpowers

In a dramatic bid to end a 40-year standoff, President Clinton is proposing face-to-face talks between North and South Korea that would for the first time include their superpower allies - China and the United States.

Clinton is expected to seek final approval for the proposal from South Korean President Kim Young-sam during their summit here later today.

There was no early indication that either North Korea or China would agree to any expanded talks. Until now, the United States had insisted that any peace talks be between the two Koreas.

The initiative comes at a time when tensions between North and South Korea are particularly high. As Clinton flew here, South Korea staged one of the largest air defense drills in recent memory - with F-16 fighters posing as communist invaders.

Earlier this month, heavily armed troops from North Korea moved repeatedly into the demilitarized zone between the two countries.

Those incursions, and North Korea’s declaration that it would no longer recognize the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, were widely seen as efforts to force the United States to negotiate separately for peace.

But the United States had steadily insisted that there be direct negotiations between North and South Korea to bring a permanent peace accord.

Defense Secretary William Perry had said Monday in Tokyo that Clinton and Kim would “reaffirm that the peace agreement on the Korean peninsula has to be made between the two principal parties - North and South.”

Before Clinton’s predawn arrival here, a top aide to Kim was quoted by South Korea’s news agency Yonhap as saying the two leaders would establish “rules” for working together on policies toward North Korea.

The summit “will deliver a strong message so that North Korea will not misjudge the situation on the Korean peninsula,” the aide was quoted as saying.

En route to this honeymoon resort off the southern coast of Korea, Clinton declared the Korean situation “much better than it was three years ago.”

“We’re working on ways not only to keep the (North Korean) nuclear problem under control and eventually eliminate it, but also to try to do what we can to promote an ultimate reconciliation and an end to the conflict,” he said during a stop in Alaska.

Meanwhile, Perry set the stage for Clinton’s visit to Japan this week by announcing an agreement that would for the first time allow the Japanese to provide transportation and other logistical support for U.S. forces in peacekeeping or training.

Perry called the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement a “small but significant step” toward cooperation on issues of mutual security in Asia.

Providing support for U.S. forces is controversial here because Japan’s post-World War II constitution forbids Japanese troops from operating outside its homeland.