US President George W. Bush disputed suggestions on Saturday that he was scaling back demands on North Korea over its nuclear program and said he would not accept a deal that goes against the region’s interests.
Bush said that despite “rumors” concerning the negotiations, the US and its allies were still waiting to see the outcome of Pyongyang’s overdue disclosures on its nuclear activities.
“Obviously I am not going to accept a deal that doesn’t advance the interests of the region,” Bush said in a press conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on the second day of their summit.
“We’re going to make a judgment as to whether North Korea has met its obligations to account for its nuclear program and activities as well as meet its obligations to disable its reactor,” Bush said.
“They have made some promises and we’ll make a judgment as to whether or not they’ve met those promises,” he said. “Then we’ll make a judgment of our own ... about our own obligations.”
But the South Korean leader said any softening of Pyongyang’s obligations under a six-country deal to fully declare its nuclear program could lead to “a lot more serious problems.”
“I believe if North Korea’s declaration is not satisfactory or if the verification is not satisfactory, we could probably have a temporary achievement, but in the long term that will cause a lot more serious problems,” Lee said.
Lee said everyone in the six-party talks must agree to the declaration.
US officials said on Thursday that Washington was adjusting its demands on North Korea in a bid to break a diplomatic stalemate on ending its nuclear arms drive.
Senior US National Security Council official Dennis Wilder said North Korea was not “off the hook” on fully declaring its atomic programs, but that proliferation issues would be “handled in a different manner.”
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, hinted that US sanctions against North Korea could be removed even before its nuclear programs or proliferation activities were verified independently.
The statements triggered a backlash from US critics who suggested that the US was selling out in the negotiations in order to nail down a deal before Bush leaves office next January.
Bush played down the idea of a US compromise, allowing that Pyongyang could be “trying to stall” and insisting that “if there’s ever going to be a breakthrough, it’ll be through the six-party talks.”
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS