Korea: Six-party talks but the threat of war continues

Talks involving China, Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 
(DPRK) and South Korea, Japan and the US are due to open in Beijing on 
Wednesday, August 27.. They are to consider the so-called Korean issue amid 
continuous bluster by the United States that the DPRK has or is developing 
nuclear weapons.

As part of its belligerent policies, George Bush denounced the DPRK as part 
of its s-called "axis of evil". Iraq and Iran were the other arms of this 
fictitious "axis", trumped up by the US administration to justify its pre-
emptive strike policies.

The long-running propaganda offensive of the US and its Australian 
Government ally has been overshadowed by the intensifying US problems in 
Iraq. None-the-less, behind the scenes US and Australian military 
preparations are continuing with exercises to "intercept" DPRK ships which 
they say are suspected of carrying military equipment. The largest arms 
exporter in the world is the US!

The US, with the support of the Australian Government, is arrogantly 
proposing that nuclear weapons inspectors be admitted to the DPRK in 
advance of any agreement by the US to conclude a non-aggression treaty with 
it.

As Iraq has found out, the destruction of its weapons was no guarantee that 
the country would not be invaded.

Latest reports from the DPRK say that the US is attempting to scuttle the 
six-party talks so that the US can wheel the issue into the United Nations 
in the hope of gaining support there.

There are no indications that China and Russia are willing to go along with 
the agenda of the US war-hawks who would dearly love to bomb the DPRK's 
nuclear facilities and start a new war on the Korean peninsular.

One of the main reasons for the US's concerns is not that the DPRK could 
develop a nuclear weapons capacity but the steadily increasing contacts and 
negotiations between the north and south towards their eventual 
reunification.

At inter-Korean talks held in July the two sides agreed that the "nuclear 
issue" should be solved in a peaceful way through an appropriate form of 
negotiations, that the program of reuniting separated families should 
continue and that a panel to examine north-south cooperation in social, 
cultural, sports and other activities be established.

The refusal of the South Korean Government to go along with the belligerent 
policies of the US are also a worry for the Bush administration.