Bush calls for help in ending standoff

North Korea was the most compelling issue for the United States.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- President Bush pushed for Asian support on a new overture to end a North Korean nuclear standoff that has cast a shadow over the region for more than a year. A new North Korean missile test underscored the prickly issue.
The missile test came today as 21 Asian-Pacific leaders prepared to announce a new crackdown on terrorists and a bid to restart stalled trade talks.
North Korea was not on the official agenda of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's agenda, but Bush raised the issue in hopes of gaining support for a new proposal to end the crisis. U.S. officials worked behind the scenes to get a mention of the matter in the summit's final declaration.
Test-firing
South Korean military officials said that North Korea test-fired an anti-ship missile off its east coast today as part of its annual military exercise.
Some participants in the forum complained that terrorism and security issues threatened to draw attention away from economic and trade issues. The test-firing of the missile highlighted that point.
Earlier, Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. They issued a joint statement calling for a quick resumption of six-nation talks to deal with North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"The two presidents urged North Korea to respond positively ... and to refrain from any action which would exacerbate the situation," their joint statement said.
Bush rode to the summit on Bangkok streets that had been cleared of the city's normally heavy traffic. The president's motorcade slowed to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to speed by so he could arrive ahead of Bush, under protocol rules requiring leaders to show up in alphabetical order by name of their country.
Tight security
Security surrounding the meeting in the Thai capital was tight. Fighter jets escorted the planes of arriving VIPs and helicopters flew over motorcades as they moved through Bangkok's unusually empty streets.
The Asia-Pacific leaders will promise to intensify an effort to dismantle terror groups, according to a draft communique obtained by The Associated Press. They will also promise to more tightly control production of weapons that can be used to down commercial aircraft -- but stop short of calling for an outright ban.
But Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a close U.S. ally in the war on terror, said he believes that action is more important than words.
"It's what you do that counts," he said.
APEC will also call on the World Trade Organization to restart talks for a new global commerce deal following the collapse of negotiations last month in the Mexican resort of Cancun.
And leaders will pledge to be better prepared for any future outbreaks of SARS, other infectious diseases or bioterrorist attacks, according to the draft declaration.
Most compelling for U.S.
For the Americans, North Korea remained the most compelling issue.
"We have a common goal to make sure that the Korean Peninsula is nuclear weapons free," Bush told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun at a breakfast meeting. He met with Chinese President Hu Jintao the day before.
Bush is promoting a plan in which five nations -- the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea -- would jointly give North Korea written assurances it wouldn't be attacked in exchange for its promise to dismantle its nuclear program.
For his part, Roh supported and praised the U.S. efforts. "This issue is very critical for ... the further progress of Korea," Roh said.
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told reporters there had not been any feedback yet -- either directly or indirectly -- from the reclusive communist regime. Still, she said, "Whatever we come up with will be more enduring that what we've had in the past."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a speech to business leaders, gave no details on how the standoff might end but said "in the course of the next days and weeks we will be fleshing out these ideas with our partners ... and pursuing them with the North Koreans."
What prompted dispute
The nuclear dispute flared a year ago when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted running a secret nuclear program in violation of international agreements.
Bush and his advisers were also using the opportunity to lobby individual nations to contribute troops or money to help stabilize Iraq. They were hoping that the final summit declaration would mention both Iraqi reconstruction and efforts to resolve the North Korean crisis, even though neither topic was on the official agenda.
Administration officials said today they hoped the establishment of a separate international agency to oversee spending of Iraq reconstruction money would help overcome the reluctance of some nations to contribute.
The United Nations and the World Bank are expected to come up with details of plans to set up a Reconstruction and Development Fund Facility for Iraq at next week's international donors' conference in Madrid.
As summit partners prepared to endorse freer trade, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took a sweeping broadsides at rich nations and multinational companies, saying poor countries cannot compete with rich ones.
Mahathir, who retires at the end of this month, caused an international stir last week when he told a summit of Islamic leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims should unite with nonviolent means for a "final victory."
Rice condemned the comments as hateful and outrageous.
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