By
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea - President Kim Dae-jung said yesterday that South Korea must help improve ties between the United States and North Korea in order for the budding detente on the Korean Peninsula to flourish.
"There will be no progress in inter-Korean relations alone without improvement in U.S.-North Korea relations," Kim said in a graduation address at the Korea Naval Academy.
"The two issues cannot be separated from each other. Thus we have to try to improve the inter-Korean relations on the one hand and provide support toward progress in U.S.-North Korea relations on the other," he said.
Kim's comments came as North Korea stepped up anti-U.S. rhetoric in response to remarks by the new Bush administration that suggested a tougher U.S. stance toward the communist country.
Earlier this month, President Bush told Kim he harbored "some skepticism" about North Korea and said the United States would not immediately resume talks about the North's missile program.
North Korea in recent weeks has threatened to back out of a 1994 deal with the United States in which it halted its suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for two nuclear reactors. Construction of the reactors, by a U.S.-led consortium, has been delayed.
Last week, the North abruptly canceled Cabinet-level talks with South Korea that were to set an agenda of cross-border exchanges on their divided peninsula for the rest of the year, an outgrowth of warming relations that began with last year's North-South summit.
Yesterday, Pyongyang accused the United States of suspending talks with the North as part of a "sinister plot to escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula."
"Bellicose circles are recklessly working to stifle (North Korea) by force of arms," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
Pyongyang left the door open for talks, however, saying it had "no desire to make a pre-emptive strike" against the United States.
"What we desire is an end to the confrontation between North Korea and the United States and an improvement in our relations," said Rodong Sinmun, the official Communist Party newspaper. The report was carried by Radio Pyongyang and monitored by Radiopress News Agency in Tokyo.
In his speech yesterday, Kim said Bush supported his engagement policy with North Korea and recognized Seoul's leading role in inter-Korea relations. Cooperation on improving U.S.-North Korea relations will strengthen once the Bush administration formulates its North Korea policy, Kim said.
Despite the North's renewed criticism of Washington, the communist country will continue to open up to the world - and the United States - to revitalize its devastated economy, Kim said.
"We have yet to witness full-scale reform in North Korea, but changes are clear there," Kim said.
The reclusive North has been relying since 1995 on outside aid to feed its 22 million people.
