http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=andDrcZX0HBw&refer=asia
North Korea Isn't on Verge of Collapse, South Korea's Roh Says
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea isn't likely to collapse and South Korea doesn't want to see its totalitarian neighbor fall into chaos, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said.
``There was talk it may collapse,'' Roh told a meeting with South Koreans living in Warsaw during a state visit to Poland, according to a faxed statement from the presidential office. ``It seems there's almost no possibility North Korea will collapse.''
South Korea has long feared it would be inundated by an exodus of North Korea's 22 million people if the regime of leader Kim Jong Il fell. China has helped in ``many ways'' to prevent a collapse, Roh said in the statement.
Speculation that Kim might be losing his grip on power surfaced in mid-November amid reports that his portraits were disappearing from some sites around the capital Pyongyang. There were also reports in South Korean and Japanese media that required badges bearing Kim's picture were being removed from lapels and that the honorific ``dear leader'' was being dropped in some references to Kim.
UN General Assembly President Jean Ping, after a trip to the North, said in Seoul on Nov. 25 that he saw ``no sign whatsoever'' of Kim's power weakening. Two days later, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency called foreign reports of the disappearing portraits the work of ``wicked, hostile forces'' bent on bringing down the government.
Six-Nation Talks
The speculation about possible changes in the totalitarian regime come as the U.S., South Korea, Russia, China and Japan stepped up efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear- weapons program. A fourth round of talks planned for September failed to take place because North Korea refused to attend.
The confrontation began in October 2002 when the U.S. accused North Korea of running a covert uranium-enrichment program, in violation of an international agreement, and cut off oil and other aid to the impoverished nation.
North Korean diplomats at the United Nations met with U.S. officials in New York last week, standing firm on a demand that the U.S. change its ``hostile'' attitude the talks can restart the Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Roh said he's confident the six-nation talks will succeed in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. ``The talks have been fruitful in managing the situation so far,'' he said in the statement released by his office. ``The talks definitely will be successful.''
North Korea has said it wants oil, economic aid and a security guarantee as preconditions to return to talks. The U.S. has said resumption of the talks is unconditional.
North Korea's nuclear arsenal has grown to an ``alarming level,'' the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in mid-November in a report posted on its Web site. The country has as many as 10 nuclear weapons, the report said.
North Korea Isn't on Verge of Collapse, South Korea's Roh Says
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea isn't likely to collapse and South Korea doesn't want to see its totalitarian neighbor fall into chaos, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said.
``There was talk it may collapse,'' Roh told a meeting with South Koreans living in Warsaw during a state visit to Poland, according to a faxed statement from the presidential office. ``It seems there's almost no possibility North Korea will collapse.''
South Korea has long feared it would be inundated by an exodus of North Korea's 22 million people if the regime of leader Kim Jong Il fell. China has helped in ``many ways'' to prevent a collapse, Roh said in the statement.
Speculation that Kim might be losing his grip on power surfaced in mid-November amid reports that his portraits were disappearing from some sites around the capital Pyongyang. There were also reports in South Korean and Japanese media that required badges bearing Kim's picture were being removed from lapels and that the honorific ``dear leader'' was being dropped in some references to Kim.
UN General Assembly President Jean Ping, after a trip to the North, said in Seoul on Nov. 25 that he saw ``no sign whatsoever'' of Kim's power weakening. Two days later, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency called foreign reports of the disappearing portraits the work of ``wicked, hostile forces'' bent on bringing down the government.
Six-Nation Talks
The speculation about possible changes in the totalitarian regime come as the U.S., South Korea, Russia, China and Japan stepped up efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear- weapons program. A fourth round of talks planned for September failed to take place because North Korea refused to attend.
The confrontation began in October 2002 when the U.S. accused North Korea of running a covert uranium-enrichment program, in violation of an international agreement, and cut off oil and other aid to the impoverished nation.
North Korean diplomats at the United Nations met with U.S. officials in New York last week, standing firm on a demand that the U.S. change its ``hostile'' attitude the talks can restart the Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Roh said he's confident the six-nation talks will succeed in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. ``The talks have been fruitful in managing the situation so far,'' he said in the statement released by his office. ``The talks definitely will be successful.''
North Korea has said it wants oil, economic aid and a security guarantee as preconditions to return to talks. The U.S. has said resumption of the talks is unconditional.
North Korea's nuclear arsenal has grown to an ``alarming level,'' the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in mid-November in a report posted on its Web site. The country has as many as 10 nuclear weapons, the report said.
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