Rice appeals to Seoul for checks on arms cargo
She says US won't dictate policy but expects allies to crack down on North
On a flying visit to South Korea yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had not come to dictate policy to Seoul but the United States expected its allies to assist it in preventing North Korean trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.
Washington sees Beijing and Seoul, North Korea's two major neighbours, trade partners and aid suppliers, as the critical players with the leverage to pressure Pyongyang.
China yesterday sent Tang Jiaxuan , President Hu Jintao's special envoy to Pyongyang, to deliver an important message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao described the visit as extremely important in trying to resolve the crisis triggered by North Korea's October 9 atomic test.
'This is a very significant visit against the backdrop of major changes in the situation on the Korean Peninsula,' Mr Liu said.
An urgent debate is under way in South Korea on how to react to last week's nuclear test.
'I did not come to South Korea to dictate to the government what it should do,' said Dr Rice after discussions with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. She said she had come to affirm the US commitment to South Korean security, but 'the US has no desire to do anything to escalate the situation'.
Noting that UN Security Council Resolution 1718 against the North was passed 'rather quickly by UN standards', she said that players around the region 'had to take stock' and 'assess their leverage' over Pyongyang.
However, she took pains to establish the US bottom line. 'The key is to live up to obligations that all of us undertook that North Korea should not traffic' in weapons of mass destruction or related technologies, 'nor receive help or financing of those programmes'.
It was unclear what she was referring to in terms of financing, but in recent days, both the US ambassador to Korea, Alexander Vershbow, and Washington's chief nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill, have reportedly said they would like to see Seoul suspend economic co-operation with the North.
Korean Foreign Minister and UN Secretary-General designate Ban Ki-moon, speaking alongside Dr Rice, said Seoul's policy over inter-Korea co-operation projects was 'under review'.
Dr Rice also addressed the Proliferation Security Initiative, and inspections of North Korean cargoes, as called for by the UN resolution.
She called on North Korea to return to the six-party talks and to implement last year's September 19 agreement, which calls for the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in return for economic aid for Pyongyang.
Her remarks came a day after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called for international 'cohesiveness and co-operation' against North Korea.
This could be problematic for Seoul-Washington ties. The chairman of South Korea's governing Uri Party, Kim Keun-tae, has demanded that Seoul should not join the proliferation security initiative. He says if Seoul joins the initiative - which includes the interception of cargo - armed clashes could result.
Meanwhile, rumours of a second nuclear test by the North continue to circulate.
