NEGATIVE/ROGUES/NORTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA WILL NOT GIVE UP MISSILES

NORTH KOREA WILL NOT GIVE UP ITS MISSILES BECAUSE SOUTH KOREA HAS MISSILES

Zeno Park Agence France Presse November 21, 1999 HEADLINE: US in delicate situation over missile development by both Koreas // acs-ln-12-28-99

North Korea Saturday denounced the South for developing new missiles, calling it "an unpardonable provocation against us and a grave threat to peace and security on the Korean peninsula."

"If the South Korean warhawks persist in developing long-range ballistic missiles ... we will take a strong countermeasure," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement.

NORTH KOREA WILL NOT COOPERATE ON MISSILES UNTIL IT HAS A PEACE AGREEMENT WITH THE USA

SELIG S. HARRISON, senior fellow of the Century Foundation, director of a study on U.S. policy in Korea, November 5, 1999, Los Angeles Times HEADLINE: commentary; how to end the missile threat from north korea; foreign policy: the u.s. would have to change its security role, end economic sanctions and formally end the war. // acs-ln-12-28-99

The North Korean proposal states that "the discontinuation of our missile development is a matter which can be discussed after a peace agreement is signed between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States, and the U.S. military threat completely removed."

The key phrases in this little-noticed offer were "peace agreement," not "peace treaty," and the U.S. military "threat," not the U.S. military "presence"--both critical distinctions. Pyongyang wants to defer a formal treaty to circumvent a long-standing stalemate over who should sign it. The signatories to the 1953 armistice were North Korea, China and a U.S. general acting on behalf of the U.N. Command. The United States wants a treaty limited to North Korea and South Korea, but Pyongyang points out that the South never signed the armistice, since then-President Syngman Rhee wanted to continue fighting.