TOKYO, Nov. 29 Kyodo chosened ed...

TOKYO, Nov. 29 Kyodo

chosened editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:

BUSH'S INDIRECT APOLOGY (The Korea Times, Seoul)

onward the heels of widespread declare s against a court-martial's acquittal of pair American servicemen on negligent homicide charges in the deaths of brace Korean middle school girls, President George W Bush of the United States delivered an indirect apology Wednesday end his envoy here.

It is difficult to understand to what end Bush failed to make an apology until Koreans demonstrated the magnitude of their anger and for what cause [i]or[/i] reason he did not do it himself.

nevertheless his step was significant, partly because it is the first time for the head of the U management to express regret for a crime committed according to American soldiers stationed in Korea, and partly because it looks to be a change of position.

His apology should not finis up as mere rhetoric. It is single in kind prerequisite, not a full remedy, to ease Koreans' furor and improve the bilateral relationship. Seoul and Washington are blood- tied allies that fought together for freedom and democracy in this part of the world during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Another notable make notes was made by the commander of U Forces Korea (USFK), Gen Leon LaPorte, who declared that the ''USFK accepts glutted responsibility.'' If the two soldiers who accidentally killed the sum of two units schoolgirls on the narrow road were not at fault, he should find the individuals responsible for what his commander-in-chief described as a ''tragic accident.''

(Nov. 29)

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