'Korean crisis resolution still remote'

'Korean crisis resolution still remote'

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur

No major steps have been taken to ease tension in the Korean
Peninsula, mainly due to unbridgeable difference of opinion
between the United States and North Korea, Indonesian special
envoy to Pyongyang Nana Sutresna admitted on Saturday.

Nana, fresh from his recent visit to Pyongyang to deliver
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's offer to broker peace in the
peninsula, said the efforts to bring the conflicting parties to
the negotiating table had been hampered by Washington's demand
for the precondition that Pyongyang follow the disarmament
program, while North Korea asked for a non-conditional dialog.

He said Indonesia was trying to accommodate the warring
parties and to find appropriate measures to settle the dispute.
He did not elaborate, however.

Indonesia has been seen as the middleman to end the Korean
crisis, as Jakarta has an excellent relationship with all of the
warring parties.

The role was assumed when Megawati conveyed peace messages
from Seoul to Pyongyang in March last year and offered to
facilitate dialog to end the Korean crisis, that has escalated in
the past few months after North Korea pulled out of the Non-
Proliferation Treaty.

Nana also said the U.S. misperception of North Korea's ability
to develop nuclear weapons had posed a hurdle to a peaceful
settlement.

"The problem is a misperception on the part of the United
States. I doubt that North Korea has the capability to produce
nuclear weapons," Nana told The Jakarta Post on Saturday on the
sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting.

Nana further underlined that Pyongyang's call for help to
Indonesia could be seen as a signal that the communist state was
worried about the developing situation in the Peninsula.

The Korean crisis is one of the main topics of discussion in
the NAM meeting here. Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda
said a paragraph on North Korea was still being discussed as some
countries had different opinions on how to address the issue.

Separately, Hassan said Jakarta would offer Pyongyang the
chance to bring the Korean issue to the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum.

"We may offer them the opportunity to settle the issue through
the ASEAN Regional Forum. But the forum is still trying to figure
out the appropriate mechanism through which the offer can be
realized," Hassan said after a meeting with his North Korean
counterpart Paek Nam-sun on Saturday.

The U.S., North Korea and South Korea are among ASEAN's
partners which have always been invited to the forum.

Hassan said during his meeting with Paek, North Korea insisted
on bilateral talks with the U.S. Washington has maintained that
the issue must be settled through the United Nations Security
Council.

"North Korea refuses to internationalize the issue," Hassan
remarked.

The Indonesian government will reassert its intention to play
a mediatory role when President Megawati and North Korea
Parliamentary Chief Kim Yong-nam meet here on Sunday.

In the meeting, Megawati expects to hear a direct response
from the number two strong man in Pyongyang.

Megawati is slated to arrive here on Sunday. During her
Malaysian trip, the Indonesian president will also hold bilateral
talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe, Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda
Zia, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Srilanka President
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kamaratunga and Vietnam President Tran Duc
Luong.

Megawati will extend her stay in Kuala Lumpur to attend the
Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) informal meeting on
Wednesday before flying back to Jakarta later in the day.