Angry rift between Seoul and Washington deepens

Angry rift between Seoul and Washington deepens

By Kate Webb

SEOUL (AFP): The rift between Seoul and Washington over how to
tackle North Korea's suspect nuclear program deepened Tuesday
with South Korea accusing the United States of rushing into an
ill-considered accord with the North simply to pull off a
diplomatic coup.

Newspapers here quoted unnamed officials as saying the angry
accusations were spurred by Seoul's dismay at learning of the
broad outline of an agreement Washington was considering
presenting to North Korea at the negotiating table in Geneva.

In Seoul, U.S. Ambassador James Laney was called into the
Foreign Office by Foreign Minister Han Sung-joo, their second
meeting in two days, and informed of South Korean "concern" over
the proposed agreement, officials said.

The Han-Laney meeting followed a top-level security meeting
here and came after top presidential advisor on security, Chung
Chong Wook, had telephoned his counterpart Anthony Lake to detail
the differences, newspapers said.

Sources and newspapers said Seoul was unhappy over several
points in the reported proposal.

The points of difference included special inspections of the
North's suspect facilities, the proposed timing of the opening of
liaison offices in each others' capitals, the resumption of an
Inter-Korean dialogue and the type of nuclear reactor to be
offered to Pyongyang.

"The United States is rushing for an agreement to score a
diplomatic coup," the Joong-Ang daily quoted Chung as saying, as
President Kim Young-sam's ruling party issued a statement backing
his hardline stand.

The rift burst into the open Friday when New York Times and
Japan's Asahi Shimbun published interviews with Kim in which he
lambasted the United States for making too many compromises and
called its negotiating posture "half-baked" and naive.

Embarrassment here Monday over the interviews turned to a
united stand behind Kim Tuesday when his ruling party echoed his
hardline criticism.

The party statement, announced by its spokesman Park Bum-jin
after a meeting of key officials early Tuesday, called the U.S.
negotiating stance "conciliatory" and said "preparedness for war
is a must in negotiations with the communists."

"According to press reports on the Geneva talks, the United
States appears to be going beyond its accords with South Korea,"
Park said.

"The accords call for pushing through special inspections of
North Korean nuclear facilities so as to guarantee the North's
transparency in its nuclear program, and for providing the North
with a South Korean light water reactor."

In his interviews Kim was quoted as saying that no more
compromises should be made with the North at a time when it was
close to economic and political collapse.

The comments aroused consternation in the United States Sunday
when U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher telephoned Han
Sung-joo from Jerusalem to express his "concern."

Christopher later downplayed the disagreement, and said Seoul
and Washington had no major differences in their positions on how
to persuade the North to give up its suspect nuclear program.

The latest reports from Geneva have characterized the ongoing
negotiations as "totally deadlocked" over two points -- the
timing of special outside inspections of two nuclear sites and
the refueling and restarting of a 5-megawatt reactor at the
North's Yongbyong nuclear complex.

North Korea has for the past two months heaped invective on
the South Korean president, blaming him for a crackdown on
radicals and leftists in the South.

U.S. officials here confirmed that Laney had met with Han, but
declined further comment, while palace officials said Kim had
given yet another interview -- this time to Cable News Network
(CNN) in which he would outline his views "without interpretation
by the print media."