French minister cautions against U.S. missile defense system

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional background in paras 7-9, minor changes)
By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- The United States' missile defense system should not
be expanded to a level where it can be seen as a threat to Russia, as that would
cause unnecessary conflicts that could also affect other European nations, a
French minister said Thursday.
"We must not provoke Russia by thoughtlessly expanding the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) or the missile defense system," said Jean-Marie Bockel,
France's minister of state for defense and veterans affairs.
A minister of state in France is a politician or official assigned to assist a
Cabinet minister on specific tasks, according to an official at the French
embassy here.
Bockel, generally referred to as the veterans affairs minister, arrived here
earlier in the week along with a group of French veterans of the Korean War who
are traveling here on a special tour program run by Seoul.
The French minister said that his country and the United States need each other
as they continue to be strong allies in the NATO, but noted the countries may
occasionally disagree.
"France and the United States have many similarities in terms of the values they
pursue, but their goals and means to reach those goals can sometimes be
different," Bockel said at a security forum here, organized by a private think
tank, Security Management Institute.
There has been a buildup of tension between Russia and the United States as the
latter has moved to build missile defense bases in Russia's neighboring states,
such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
France has long been a strong critic of the U.S. missile defense system.
"We should not talk about deployment of a missile shield, which would do nothing
to bring security," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last month.
Bockel on Thursday said the U.S. missile defense system can only provide
"partial" protection against ballistic missiles.
He said the U.S. and France should instead focus on stopping the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction by increasing support for activities by existing
non-proliferation regimes, such as the United Nations.
Turning to the North Korean nuclear issue, the French official said the
six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions will continue to have
"ups and downs," but that the countries involved will eventually prevail in
winning concession from the communist state.
"France, as South Korea's ally and friend, anticipates the six-party talks will
come to a peaceful and satisfactory end and that Korea will be able to promote
its national interest through the multilateral negotiation process," Bockel said
through his Korean interpreter.
brk@yna.co.kr
bdk@yna.co.kr