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Powell announces food aid to N. Korea
From CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has completed day one of a four-day tour of East Asia. The first stop was Japan, where he consulted with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, thanking the country for its strong support of Washington's tough stance on Iraq. During this trip, Powell is attempting to shape an international approach to the crises in Iraq and North Korea. En route to Japan, Powell announced a new installment of food aid to Pyongyang, stressing Washington would not use food aid as a political tool. However, he said, more economic aid would be available if North Korea were to scrap its nuclear weapons program. "We have to get these matters resolved and behind us with respect to their proliferating actions with respect to their nuclear weapons development programs, and also with respect to the size of their military poised along the 38th parallel," Powell said. Pyongyang denies it has a nuclear-weapons program, saying it was forced to pull out of the 1994 Agreed Framework because the United States stopped fuel shipments. Washington says it stopped fuel shipments because North Korea admitted it was developing a nuclear weapons program. North Korea is demanding bilateral talks and a non-aggression treaty from Washington, but the United States prefers a multilateral approach. In Tokyo, the leaders will discuss a U.N. Security Council resolution being drafted by the United States and Britain. Japan wants to make sure the resolution reflects that the international community is unified in its resolve to get Iraq to scrap its alleged weapons of mass destruction program. Iraq says it has no such weapons and is not developing any. "We expect that that resolution will be fairly straightforward, direct, and will put out [that] it appears Iraq is still not moving in a way to comply with (U.N. Resolution) 1441," the secretary said. "Therefore, the council has to consider appropriate action on the resolution, or other action the council might choose to take." At that point, Powell said, the United States will begin consultations with members of the council. During his planned four-day Asian tour, Powell will travel Sunday to China and then head to Seoul to attend Tuesday's inauguration of South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun.
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