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North Korea joins China in opposing a U.S. missile shield |
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July 22, 2000
NAGO (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin headed into the Group of Eight summit on Okinawa with two more allies in his opposition to America's proposed antimissile shield: China and North Korea. Since G-8 members France and Germany already have criticized the proposed defense system as a potential threat to the goal of global disarmament, Putin may use the annual meeting of the industrial powers to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe. A U.S. missile shield would require an amendment to the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which bans national missile defenses. Russia already has refused to approve such a change, as proposed by U.S. President Bill Clinton. Putin and Clinton were meeting later Friday. Putin concluded the first-ever visit by a Russian leader to North Korea on Thursday with the support of the North's ruler, Kim Jong Il, in urging that the proposed missile shield be abandoned. Putin and Kim also said the North's missile program, one of the reasons the United States wants to protect its territory, is meant for peaceful purposes, not attacks on other nations. On Wednesday, Putin said from Pyongyang that North Korea had offered to give up its missile program if other nations would provide it with rockets to launch satellites into space. But a detailed joint statement at the end of the summit did not mention that offer. In Russia, some newspapers praised Putin for achieving a breakthrough with North Korea. Vremya Novostei said Putin had advanced "Russia's unique, historic mission in regulating the problem." The Segodnya daily said the G-8 summit would provide Putin with "his last chance to convince the master of the White House to renounce the undertaking of the missile defense system." In Seoul, South Korean government officials expressed doubt that Pyongyang is prepared to give up its long-range missile technology under any terms. But Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said in Tokyo that he was eager to meet with Putin to discuss his North Korean summit. On Tuesday, during a meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in Beijing, the two signed a statement denouncing the United States' plans for a missile defense. Knowing that France and Germany share Russia's concerns that the U.S. plan could be destabilizing, Putin could try to draw on their opposition during the G-8 summit. Besides the United States, Russia, Germany and France, the other G-8 members are Japan, Britain, Italy and Canada. U.S. officials have said Washington's proposed missile defense shield would protect the United States against military threats from nations such as communist North Korea, which is heavily armed. Nearly two years ago, the North shocked East Asia by test-firing a long-range missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. |