South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in comments that could raise eyebrows in Washington, has linked a US request for South Korean troops for Iraq to progress in six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.
The US has asked South Korea for combat troops as part of its efforts to ease the burden of stabilizing post-war Iraq. A South Korean newspaper quoted a US official as saying Washington would like 5,000 troops and a decision by the middle of next month.
South Korean officials say a key factor is maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula, where 37,000 US troops help deter the communist North.
The US and North Korea are at loggerheads over the North's nuclear program. They took part in six-way talks last month in Beijing but a second round is not expected before November.
"Isn't it difficult for the country to accept the dispatch of our troops abroad in such an uncertain situation as we don't know how the six-way talks will go in the future and what will happen when?" Roh asked a group of reporters on Wednesday.
His office published the comments yesterday.
"We need something predictable about stability on the Korean Peninsula," he said. "For that, the North Korean and US stances are crucial."
Roh said he needed more time to decide on the US request. Chosun Ilbo, a leading South Korean newspaper, said Roh's foreign policy adviser, Ban Ki-moon, had said the president meant he would consider all factors, including the nuclear talks.
South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun told the Korea Management Association the first round of talks last month had helped all sides -- China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the US -- understand each other's views.
"We expect the second round of the six-way talks can be held in the near future," he said, without elaborating.
Jeong has said he will convey updated views from the international community when he attends North-South talks in Pyongyang next month. Foreign ministers have been meeting at the UN on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Roh told North-South experts on Wednesday South Korea would help boost aid to the North if it ditched its nuclear plans.
"Once the nuclear issue is resolved, South Korea will make utmost efforts to win international cooperation to help North Korea restructure and open its doors," he said.
Jeong said economic cooperation, which is slowly gathering pace, could help ease tension across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone.
As well as economic links, such as reconnecting railways and building an industrial park in the North, there have been increased cultural ties.
Four hundred North Koreans will fly to the South's Cheju island next month to compete against South Koreans in the first sports and culture festival of its kind, organizers said.
A more moving aspect of inter-Korean ties has been family reunions. The latest round of meetings at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea ended yesterday with anguished farewells among relatives who had not seen each other for half a century and are unlikely to meet again.
RSS