US Senate calls for new N Korea envoy to review

Wasington, June 23: The US Senate demanded the appointment of a new senior envoy to review and lead policy on North Korea in what critics say is sign of plummeting confidence in President George W Bush's approach.

The vote came on an amendment to the defense authorization bill yesterday sponsored by Senators Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic minority leader; and Carl Levin of Michigan and Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrats on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee, respectively.

The amendment still must be approved by the US House of Representatives to become law.

''It says we are not confident in the direction of US policy,'' one Democratic Senate staff member told Reuters.

''It reflects the frustration of five years of Bush's neglect of the North Korea problem, during which the North expanded its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs,'' said the staff member who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

The stalemate in diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear programs has been underscored over the past two weeks by increasing signs that Pyongyang was moving to test an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Growing tensions over a possible missile test has hit financial markets, prompted Japan to muster naval ships and the United States to activate a missile defense system.

The Senate amendment, obtained by Reuters, requires that within 60 days after the defense bill becomes law the president shall appoint a senior presidential envoy as coordinator of US policy on North Korea.

His responsibilities would include conducting a ''full and complete review'' of US policy toward Pyongyang and providing ''leadership'' for US participation in the six-country nuclear talks that also involve South Korea, North Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

The president would also be required to submit to Congress an unclassified report on the North's missile and nuclear programs.

This would allow lawmakers to share with the American public information about the North's capabilities which they cannot now do, Senate sources said.

The Senate initiative seeks to repeat what happened in 1998 when former Defense Secretary William Perry was appointed by President Bill Clinton as North Korea coordinator and performed an eight-month review of US policy.

Perry recommended that Washington engage the North in cooperative efforts to end Pyongyang's nuclear programs by offering incentives and to lay out a path of isolation and disincentives if the North refused.

Reuters

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