U.S. president George Bush used the October 26-27 APEC forum in Mexico--a meeting of representatives of countries in the imperialist-dominated Asia Pacific Economic Council--to put together the motion targeting the workers state.

At the same time, Washington’s low-key approach to the controversy--in comparison to its bellicose stance toward Iraq--has drawn widespread comment. "We want to make sure that we move deliberately, we move with patience, that we do not create a crisis in the region," said U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell.

While making no official comment on the original "revelations," the north Korean foreign ministry has affirmed its "right to defend its sovereignty."

Pyongyang is "ready to seek a negotiated settlement of this issue," continued the ministry’s October 25 statement. It called on the U.S. government to reach a resolution of the situation based on assurances "of nonaggression."

As the issue as unfolded, the 1994 Agreed Framework between Pyongyang and Washington has effectively been suspended.

Under the 1994 agreement, the U.S., Japanese, and south Korean governments promised to provide $4 billion for the construction of nuclear power reactors in north Korea, in exchange for an agreement by Pyongyang to freeze any nuclear weapons development it had undertaken. One of the reactors was supposed to be completed by 2003, but after repeated delays by Washington, site preparations only began in August. The deadline for their completion was pushed back two years.

Pyongyang’s October 25 statement criticized Washington "abnormal" demand "that negotiations should be held after the DPRK puts down its arms." The foreign ministry noted that since 1994 "the U.S. has persistently pursued a hostile policy toward the DPRK and maintained economic sanctions on it."  
 
Defensive posture
Over decades of U.S. hostility, Pyongyang has repeatedly explained that its armed forces are necessary to deter and, if necessary, defend against a U.S. imperialist invasion. Today, 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in south Korea, including many along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border with the north. In addition, the area is patrolled by the nuclear-armed Seventh Fleet of the U.S. Navy.

After discussions with Japanese government representatives, U.S. assistant secretary of state James Kelly said that his counterparts in Tokyo "are not going to give any money without resolution of the nuclear issues." Such "money" includes food aid that is needed to counter food shortages and the devastation of agriculture that followed a series of floods and other natural disasters in the mid-to-late 1990s.

In September Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited north Korea and signed a declaration that projected some increased economic ties. Tokyo entered the unprecedented high-level discussions as part of broader attempts to expand its influence as an imperialist power in Asia.

U.S. presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Washington sought to build "an international coalition" among "many of the countries on whom north Korea traditionally relies for technology, economic, and diplomatic support." These countries, he asserted, "want good and improved relations with the United States, and they have no interest in a nuclearized north Korea."

U.S. officials singled out the Pakistani government for public criticism in this effort, alleging that in the late 1990s Islamabad supplied north Korea with equipment suitable for extracting weapons-grade uranium in exchange for missiles.

After talks with Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Bush declared October 25 that the Chinese and U.S. governments would "work together" to "persuade" north Korea to cease its alleged nuclear program.

Fully 33 percent of north Korea’s foreign trade is with China. In his only reported comment on the broader issue, Jiang said that "China has always held the position that the Korean peninsula ought to be nuclear weapons-free."

While joining Washington in the statement at the APEC forum, the south Korean regime has continued negotiations with Pyongyang on the implementation of previous agreements between the two governments, including rail links along the peninsula.

History of imperialist aggression
In January Bush named north Korea, Iran, and Iraq as members of an "axis of evil." In March, the Pentagon’s "leaked" Nuclear Posture Review named the DPRK as one of the seven countries that are targeted by its nuclear missiles. That same month, Washington and Seoul conducted joint military exercises near the border with north Korea, the first such operations since 1993 and the largest since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Washington’s latest moves are part of a long-term policy course. The root of the hostility toward the DPRK lies with the revolutionary struggle by the Korean people coming out of World War II to rid their country of first Japanese, then American imperialist occupation forces. In 1945 the representatives of the U.S. and Soviet governments agreed to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel.

The struggle in the north led to the establishment of a workers and farmers government and the overturn of capitalism. Washington launched a war from 1950 to 1953 to try to topple the workers and farmers government, killing some four million Koreans and leveling virtually every meaningful target in the north. The U.S. rulers failed in their goal and were forced to a standoff at the 38th parallel. Since its defeat U.S. imperialism has carried out a hostile course to try to overturn the Korean workers state.  
 
 
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