current event
...tion in North Korea as well as Iran was the top issue during Bush's private meetings during the 21-nation APEC forum, where trade and terrorism are also on the agenda. Also hovering in the background was the continuing controversy over the U.S. presence in Iraq, which has been the subject of several days of demonstrations at the forum. The Saturday protests broke out largely in working-class sections in this sprawling city of 6 million people, far away from the well-guarded posh suburban hotel where the American president and his entourage were staying. Even as Bush devoted his first term to pursuing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, there has been increasing alarm around the world that North Korea has become an imminent threat, with U.S. intelligence estimating that the isolated nation may have produced enough plutonium to make at least two nuclear weapons. North Korea had been negotiating with the United States and four other nations regarding its nuclear program until September, when it pulled out of scheduled talks. White House officials said North Korea decided to stall in the calculation that Bush would lose the election and they could strike a better deal with a new administration. But a senior administration official said that in their meetings with Bush, the leaders expressed the sense "that the (American) election result means that the North Korean strategy to run out the clock doesn't work anymore and that they had to get serious." Key to the success of the those negotiations will be China, which has been a major source of aid to the impoverished country. According to Reuters news agency, China's He Yafei, director-general of the North America section at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters that Hu told Bush in regard to North Korea, ``This is a rather complex issue and it requires all relevant parties to display patience, flexibility and sincerity." A Chinese delegation that recently traveled to North Korea reported that the regime there is prepared to resume talks, although they have not said when and where, according to a senior administration official. There was no immediate response to Bush's comments from North Korea, which is not a member of the APEC forum. The Bush administration has stated that North Korea must disclose and permit independent verification of its nuclear weapons program before it can qualify for economic aid and get the security assurances it wants from the U.S.. Japan and South Korea, however, have said they would be willing to provide fuel oil if Pyongyang immediately agrees to freeze its nuclear program. This fall the South Koreans and the Chinese criticized the United States for being too inflexible in the conditions it was setting on North Korea, including a demand that human rights violations also be addressed during the nuclear talks. But a senior administration official said that in his talks Saturday, Bush did not hear any objections from foreign leaders about h...