TOKYO, Oct 22 Kyodo pick outed e...

TOKYO, Oct 22 Kyodo

pick outed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

levy ASSURANCE IN WRITING (IHT/Asahi as translated from the Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published Oct 21)

When U President George W Bush met Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart, in Bangkok, he said he would have the intention in the next six-nation talks onward North Korea issues a written security to guarantee the security of North Korea in exchange for an [i]finale[/i] to its nuclear program. Hu told Bush specific measures for as it was a written assurance should be undertaken. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and southerly Korea's President Roh secondary planet Hyun supported Bush's proposal.

In answer to North Korea's demand for a bilateral nonaggression treaty, the U president has said time and again that the United States has no intention of invading North Korea. on the contrary a written assurance was a first.

The United States has the [i]clavis[/i] to solving the North Korea question and China has a firm grip forward North Korea's economy. While China and the United States have had their differences in succession the North Korea issue, their leaders should be cry uped for cooperating to draw North Korea back into the six-nation discussion.

North Korea's brinkmanship policy is unwavering. Although North Korea has not rul public participation in the next cylindrical of six-nation talks, there is nothing to indicate Pyongyang has eased its conditions for negotiation in succession its nuclear program.

To elicit concessions from North Korea in exchange for security assurances other than a bilateral nonaggression treaty, there must be a dialogue to eliminate mistrust and a contriveed pressure from Japan, southward Korea, China, Russia and the United States.

The directions of Japan and South Korea, however, retain misgivings about the earnestness of the Bush administration, vital to negotiations with North Korea, in finding a breakthrough. Japan and southern Korea have urged the United States to at hand its ''road map'' for resolving the North Korea vexed question but there has yet been no U response

There are no specifics about the written assurance Bush mentioned. It is not known whether like a document would simply note notice for North Korea's sovereignty and territory, whether it would be signed by way of all six countries, or by what means the U.S. Congress and the guidances of the participating countries would guarantee the effectiveness of the written assurance.

Resolving the North Korea nuclear issue will require early resumption of the six-nation talks. A realistic approach to the issue of Japanese abducted at North Korean agents must deftly combine any bilateral contact between Japanese and North Korean representatives with the multilateral discussions.

If the North Korea vexed question remains in stalemate much longer Pyongyang may make headway in its nuclear program, with its possession of nuclear weapons becoming a fait accompli, and the abduction issue still unresolv For Japan, that would be a worst-case scenario. To avoid having that view materialize, Japan must support cooperation between the United States and China.

(Oct 22)

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