Bush wants multiparty talks for N. Korea

WASHINGTON – President Bush rejected calls Wednesday for one-on-one talks with North Korea and indicated he was not contemplating military action in response to Pyongyang’s announcement this week it had conducted a nuclear test.

Bush, speaking at news conference in the White House Rose Garden, reaffirmed that the U.S. would not tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea. But he emphasized that his focus was on the use of diplomacy through multinational talks.

The president’s comments followed a threat Wednesday by North Korea to conduct more nuclear tests, while Japan unilaterally banned North Korean nationals and imports from entering Japan for the next six months.

At the U.N., where the Bush administration is pursuing sanctions against the North Korean regime, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Bush to consider bilateral negotiations. The North Korean statement, issued through its U.N. mission, warned that sanctions could trigger “physical countermeasures” and would be considered “as a declaration of war.”

The remarks by Bush were his first in public on North Korea since the regime in Pyongyang announced Monday morning that it had carried out a successful nuclear test.

The president appeared to go out of his way to avoid inflammatory language, even as he insisted that North Korea must stand by previous commitments to dismantle its nuclear program.

The toned-down approach seemed intended both for potential partners at the United Nations and, fewer than four weeks before the midterm U.S. congressional elections, for an American electorate grown weary of the Iraq war. It also appeared to reflect a dearth of options following weeks of harsh rhetoric by the administration, since military action to destroy North Korea’s nuclear facilities could prove difficult and also could result in a regionwide war.

“We want to make sure that we solve this problem diplomatically,” Bush said, repeating the word “diplomatically” seven more times and using the term “diplomacy” on another 10 occasions during the 62-minute news conference.

But Bush struck a defensive tone in explaining his opposition to direct negotiations. Echoing comments by other Republicans in recent days, Bush cited the one-on-one approach to North Korea by former President Clinton that resulted in a 1994 agreement which collapsed in 2002, two years after Bush took office.

“Bilateral relations didn’t work,” Bush said, although adding, “I appreciate the efforts of previous administrations.”

A spokesman for Clinton responded Wednesday that Republicans were attempting to “rewrite history.”

Following the 1994 agreement, North Korea produced no nuclear weapons during Clinton’s time in the White House, and the Clinton approach was endorsed by Colin L. Powell, then Bush’s secretary of State, in 2001, said Ben Yarrow of the Clinton Foundation.

“For eight years during the Clinton administration, there was no new plutonium production, no nuclear weapons tests and therefore no additional nuclear weapons developed on President Clinton’s watch,” Yarrow said.