Extracts. Kim Jong-Il's Seoul Visit Hinges on US Policy Review DPRK <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/dprk.html> leader Kim Jong-Il intends to visit Seoul for a return peace summit, but is awaiting the outcome of a US policy review, the European Union said Thursday. Prime Minister Goran Persson of Sweden <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/sweden.html> , which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said after talks with Kim that the ball was now in the US court. "My firm impression is that the North wants the new summit but is careful about the timing, and that is because of the policy review in the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> ," he told a news conference. After a euphoric start fuelled by South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung's visit to Pyongyang in June, the peace process has begun to flag and a promised return visit by Kim Jong-Il to Seoul has so far not materialised. The new US administration of President George W. Bush has ordered a review of North Korean policy, different from his predecessor Bill Clinton, and signalled its ``distaste'' over dealing with Kim. Persson said the EU delegation assured Kim that the policy review was not certain to yield a drastic shift in the US position on North Korea. He added that Kim remained committed to the joint declaration he issued with Kim Dae-Jung, pledging the two Koreas to work towards eventual peaceful reunification. "We have a firm commitment from Kim Jong-Il to the Pyongyang agreement, and we strongly encouraged the continuation of the process," the Swedish prime minister said after five hours of talks. The discussions were "engaging and a good start," he said. **** Bush Says Review of DPRK Policy to Be Completed Timely President George W. Bush has told his South Korean counterpart Kim Dae-Jung that the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> will complete the review of US policy toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/dprk.html> ) "in a timely fashion," the White House said Wednesday. In a phone call to Kim made on late Monday, Bush said that "the North Korea (DPRK) policy review will be thorough and will be completed in a timely fashion," US national Security spokeswoman Mary Ellen Countryman said. The US president also "reiterated his support for President Kim's engagement policy with North Korea (DPRK) and his respect for President Kim's leadership," Countryman said. According to the spokeswoman, Bush made the phone call to brief Kim on his plan to deploy an extensive anti-missile shield. He told kim that Washington is sending a group of high-level officials next week to Asia for "consultations" with its allies on the controversial program to deploy missile defense system. **** Russian Experts: US Missile Shield Can Be Easily Broken Even primitive missile technologies would be enough for neutralizing the most up-to-date US global Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) system, Tass cited experts from the Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> n Academy of Military Sciences as saying Wednesday. Such methods include the camouflage of launches and the creation of groups of dummy missiles, along with their mock launches, said these anonymous "outstanding missile experts." "Those non-traditional methods do not require big financial and material resources, but their effectiveness in neutralizing the ABM system may be very high," they emphasized. "Taking into consideration the conceptual characteristic features of the U.S. ABM system, whose key task is to destroy intercontinental ballistic missile before the moment, when the nuclear warhead of the missile is divided into several parts, there are other ways of neutralizing both separate elements of the system and the whole of the ABM system. For instance, we can use carriers of air-based laser weapons for penetrating the National Missile Defense (NMD) umbrella," the experts specified. Russia possesses the facilities needed for neutralizing the ABM system. The problem is that if the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> starts the militarization of outer space, other countries will be forced to take measures, not only passive but also active ones, to defend themselves, they predicted. In the end, the consequences of that process may be most disastrous, and they have not been analyzed well so far. The price of the imaginary 'global security' offered by the United States as a substitute for the 1972 ABM Treaty, may become fatal for the whole of our civilization," the Russian military experts warned. US NMD to Use Space Weapons Russian security experts said Wednesday that the US missile defense concept presupposes the use of modern space-based weapons. "The Pentagon does not hide the fact that the deployment of the missile defense system will use modern�� the so-called breakthrough,technologies and weapons based on new physical principles, "Itar-Tass news agency quoted "top security experts" as saying, adding that such systems can be deployed only in outer space. "New systems will have to meet tight requirements in terms of detecting and destroying targets literally at the speed of light. This is explained by the conceptual principle of the US national missile defense (NMD) system to destroy missiles during the short period of acceleration," the experts said. To this end, various laser systems have been designed (including with nuclear induction), beam and microwave weapons ��electromagnetic guns. The deployment of all these "exotic" weapons in outer space is prevented by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and is considered by the US leaders as a relic of the Cold War," they stressed. **** No Settlement Freeze, No Pullout From Jordan Valley: Sharon Israel <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/israel.html> i Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that Israel will not discuss a freeze on Jewish settlement construction with the Palestinians and the occupied Jordan <http://web3.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/jordan.html> Valley will remain in Israel's hands "forever." Sharon made the statement at the end of a condolence visit to a Jewish family in the settlement of Ofra near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israel Army Radio reported. A son of the family was shot dead by Palestinian gunmen on Tuesday, three months after his father was killed in a similar shooting incident in January. There are more than 140 Jewish settlements dotting the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians demand that Israel evacuate all those settlements in a final-status peace deal. Since the violence between Israel and the Palestinians broke out late last September, the settlements and settlers have become the " legitimate targets" of Palestinian gunmen. The Palestinians have requested Israel to freeze all settlement construction before the two sides could resume peace negotiations after seven months of conflicts, which have so far killed more than 490 people, most of them Palestinians. However, Sharon, an Israeli hawk, Monday reassured Jewish settlers in Ofra that the issue of settlement freeze was simply not on the agenda, and the two sides had reached no agreement. "This is not up for discussion. We will not pay protection money for stopping terror," he said. Sharon also blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for "not stopping terror activities for one moment" and "not changing his strategy ... that they could achieve more by terror and violence." He further threatened, "if Arafat won't deal with terror, we will deal with terror, and this will be done while preventing escalation. We are interested in preventing escalation, but we have not yet exhausted all the possibilities for stopping terror." Regarding the Jordan Valley issue, Sharon said that the valley, traditionally regarded by Israel as a buffer zone between Israel and the Arab countries to the east, should not be turned over as part of the West Bank to the Palestinians, even the two sides could reach a final peace deal. Sharon boasted that Israeli sovereignty will be maintained over the entire area, from Beit She'an, a city some 85 kilometers north of Jerusalem, in the north to the Dead Sea in the south, and from the border with Jordan in the east to the mountain ridges of the West Bank in the west. "I cannot foresee any situation where this status will be changed," he added. Sharon reportedly ordered his Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer to disperse Israeli soldiers along the highways in the Jordan Valley to "ensure it is secured and safe for Israeli travel." _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
