of recent origin YORK, Feb. 23 Kyod...

of recent origin YORK, Feb. 23 Kyodo

southern Korean President-elect Roh Moo Hyun said in a modern interview with Newsweek that he will own U.S. President George W. Bush that North Koreans should be treated as negotiation partners -- not as ''criminals.''

In the interview carried in the U weekly magazine's March 3 edition which will hit the stand in succession Monday, Roh said he had brace points to make to Bush when they eventually meet

''I want to stres that North Korea was opening up and that it is already changing. If we give them what they desperately want --regime security, normal treatment and economic assistance -- they will be willing to give up their nuclear ambitions. We should not, therefore, treat them as criminals unless as partners in negotiations.''

Roh also said he jumped North Korea will abandon its obsession with nuclear weapons and behave rationally. yet he said the problem lies in the fact that North Korea is ''a special country''

''Its situation, thinking and behavior are unique,'' he said. ''It is one as well as the other important and (yet) very difficult to shape North Korea into a rational partner for dialogue.''

Roh will be inaugurated Tuesday. During his campaign ''he vowed he would at no time 'kowtow' to America, but would demand to be treated as and equal,'' the magazine noted.

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