>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) >STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > >Wednesday, May 24 3:24 PM SGT >South Korea stopped US strike on North Korea: former president SEOUL, >May 24 (AFP) - >South Korea stopped US President Bill Clinton from launching an air >strike against North Korea's nuclear facilities in June 1994, according >to the South Korean president at the time, Kim Young-Sam. In an >interview with the independent Hankyoreh Daily, Kim said a last-minute >phone conversation with Clinton saved the Korean peninsula from an >imminent war, at the height of an international crisis over North >Korea's nuclear programme. >"At that time, the situation was really dangerous," Kim told the paper. >"The Clinton government was preparing a war." According to Kim, the >United States deployed an aircraft carrier off the eastern coast at a >distance close enough for its war planes to hit the North's nuclear >facilities in Yongbyon. >US warships were also ready for a naval bombardment of the nuclear >facilities, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Pyongyang, he added. >"One day, I heard (then US Ambassador James) Laney was about to hold a >press conference the following day and announce the withdrawal of >relatives of US embassy staff," he said to the daily. "This is a step >the United States usually takes on the eve of a war. So, I called in >Laney." >Kim warned the US ambassador another war on the Korean peninsula would >turn all of Korea into a bloodbath, killing between 10 and 20 million >people and destroying South Korea's prosperous economy. "I told him that >I would not move even a single soldier of our 650,000 troops (in case a >war broke out because of the bombing of Yongbyon)," he said to the >paper. >According to Kim he argued with Clinton for 32 minutes on the phone. "I >told him there would be no inter-Korean war while I was the president." >"Clinton tried to persuade me to change my mind, but I criticised the >United States for planning to stage a war with the North on our land," >he said. >Clinton then relented and proposed to set up a secret telephone line >linking the White House and the presidential Blue House here for close >consultation on the North's nuclear issue, the paper said. Three days >later, a team from the White House arrived, and at around the same time >former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Seoul on his way to >Pyongyang in a bid to defuse the tense situation, Kim said. Kim asked >Carter to warn then North Korean President Kim Il-Sung of the >seriousness of the situation and to convey his wish to avoid a war, Kim >Young-Sam said. >During Carter's visit, Kim Il-Sung proposed the North freeze its nuclear >programme on condition that it receive lightwater reactors which could >be monitored more easily by the outside world. This proposal eventually >led to a landmark agreement in October 1994 in Geneva, under which North >Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear programme in exchange for two >light-water reactors and fuel from the West. Carter returned to Seoul >from Pyongyang with a proposal from Kim Il-Sung to hold an inter-Korean >summit, but the summit was cancelled by the sudden death of Kim Il-Sung >from a heart attack on July 8, 1994. Kim Il-Sung was succeeded by his >eldest son, Kim Jong-Il. The two Koreas will pick up where they left off >in 1994, when Kim Jong-Il meets with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung >at Pyongyang in June of this year. > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >______________________________________________________________________ >Advertisement: >15% off Ashford Collection jewelry for Mother's Day! Mom will love >these gorgeous pieces handpicked by our expert jewelry buyers - now >15% off and shipped FedEx overnight FREE! Spoiled as a child? Return >the favor - get her gift at Ashford.com. >http://on.linkexchange.com/?ATID=27&AID=1231 > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
