Posted on Sat, Aug. 23, 2003
Suspected N. Korean chemicals worry U.S.
CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea - The United States wants to talk to North Korea not only about nuclear bombs, but the communist nation's entire arsenal: suspected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, missiles that can reach all of South Korea and Japan and massive conventional forces massed near the border.
If U.S. negotiators bring up all these issues at talks in Beijing this week, the meetings are likely to become contentious quickly. An impoverished nation with few friends, North Korea relies on its military might as one of its few means of political leverage, and it suspects U.S. talk of disarmament is a scheme to undermine its ability to defend itself.
The Aug. 27-29 talks, featuring the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan, will focus on resolving a standoff that erupted in October over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons. A diplomatic solution could take years.
But the enduring question of North Korea's threat to stability in northeast Asia - a menace that dates to its 1950 invasion of South Korea, triggering the Korean War - could remain even if the nuclear confrontation dissipates. (snip/...)
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