While portraying itself as the one seeking dialogue, the U.S. government has refused to sit down to talks until north Korea agrees to dismantle a nuclear energy plant it has taken steps recently to reopen and scrap an alleged program to manufacture enriched uranium. "It is clear that the U.S. talk about dialogue" is an effort "to mislead the world public opinion," read the statement.

"The nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula was created by the United States and must be wholly resolved with us and the United States" sitting down to negotiate, said a north Korean official on January 20.  
 
U.S. cuts off food and fuel shipments
Following last October’s announcement by U.S. officials that north Korea had engaged in the uranium-producing effort, the U.S. government cut off shipments of fuel oil to the north. Japan and south Korea followed suit. The fuel shipments were part of the 1994 Agreed Framework, an accord under which the three governments promised to aid north Korea in the development of nuclear reactors. In exchange, Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons programs.

Washington has also held off promised grain shipments to the United Nations relief agency that supplies food to north Korea, using the fact that the country faces chronic food shortages as a weapon against the workers state.

With its supply of energy-producing fuel oil suspended, the north Korean government took steps to restart a small reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear power facility. In December, the north Korean government removed monitoring equipment that had been placed on the reactor as part of the 1994 agreement, and expelled two U.N. inspectors.  
 
Washington’s demands
U.S. president Bush announced January 14 that if Pyongyang agrees to its initial demands, the U.S. government would begin negotiations with north Korea on what he called a "bold initiative," including aid and fuel supplies.

Bush made it clear that the "offer" is only up for discussion if Pyongyang abides by Washington’s demands. "We expect this issue to be resolved peacefully," he said, " and we expect them to disarm." He added, "We expect them not to develop nuclear weapons."

A senior Bush administration official described a series of demands that are under consideration. To qualify for promises of aid, north Korea had to agree to cease the development and export of missiles, withdraw its troops from the demilitarized zone--where they face 37,000 U.S. Soldiers as well as hundreds of thousands of south Korean troops--and not engage in certain types of nuclear research, as specified by Washington.

The official also said that the U.S. will insist on the destruction of the Yongbyon nuclear power reactor.

The threats and actions against north Korea by the U.S. government occur as popular sentiment in the south against the U.S. military presence and in favor of national reunification is rising. In November and December large demonstrations were sparked by a U.S military court’s acquittal of two U.S. soldiers charged with negligent homicide after they ran over and killed two south Korean schoolgirls during a military exercise.

The incoming south Korean president Roh Moo Hyun won the election last fall in part because of his support for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and his policy of continuing negotiations with Pyongyang. In a January 15 statement, however, the south Korean president-elect reiterated the stance of past south Korean governments, calling the troops "the driving force of security and the backbone of our prosperity."

Like his predecessor, the new president has expressed strong unease at Washington’s pugnacious stance, telling a meeting of American and European business leaders, "I don’t think there is a reason to worry about the north Korean nuclear issue too much.... I am more concerned that the U.S. might attack north Korea."

The north Korean consul-general in Hong Kong, Ri Top Sop, reassured people in the south that north Korea has no intentions of attacking the area. "We and south Korea are of the same lineage and the same country, we share the same language and culture. There’s no reason for us to harm our relationship with south Korea."

The diplomat added, "If the United States attacks us, we’ll only go after our enemy."  
 
 
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