Bush says Kim Jong-il is testing 6-way talks ahead of Obama's inauguration

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has urged the
incoming Barack Obama administration to keep alive the multilateral talks on
ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, which he said will be tested by North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

"The key is to be firm and patient with a structure that will enable the next
president or the next president after that to be able to solve the problem
diplomatically," Bush said aboard Air Force One en route to Afghanistan Sunday,
according to a transcript released by the White House.
Obama has said he will engage with North Korea more directly on denuclearization
while still pursuing the six-party talks. The isolated communist state conducted
a nuclear test in 2006, and U.S. intelligence authorities and defense officials
say the North has several nuclear bombs despite the Bush administration's
reluctance to acknowledge the North as a nuclear state.
"So right now what you're watching is that the leader of North Korea is trying to
test the process," the outgoing president said. "First he said something Japan,
and now he's saying something about so-and-so."
He was talking about North Korea's denunciation of Japan for trying to include
North Korea's past abduction of Japanese citizens in the six-party process and
its most recent refusal to sign an agreement on verification of its nuclear
facilities under a multilateral nuclear deal signed late last year.
"So he'll test -- and this isn't the first time he's tested," Bush said. "He
signed an agreement in September of 2005. Everybody said, great, looks like we're
on our way to having the problem solved. And then he tested and changed his mind
and did this, that, and the other."
Bush emphasized the need for the members to the six-party talks to join forces.
"It is much easier to solve a problem diplomatically when there is more than one
voice speaking to the leader of North Korea," he said. "And so the objective is
to keep our partners firm on the understanding that the six-party process is the
best way to solve the North Korean issue."
"In this case, the message is, we need to have a verifiable process in place to
determine whether or not you're fulfilling your obligations," he said.
Bush was referring to the refusal by the North in last week's latest round of
six-party talks in Beijing to agree in writing to a verification process that
includes taking samples from nuclear facilities.
The North said that should be done in the latter part of the facilities'
dismantlement, the third and last phase under the denuclerization deal signed in
September 2005.
hdh@yna.co.kr