Korea/US

Nukes and beef on the menu as presidents meet

Article published on the 2008-04-18 Latest update 2008-04-18 14:20 TU

Lee Myung-bak.
(photo: Reuters)

North Korea's nuclear arms potential and South Korean beef are both likely to be mentioned during two days of discussions between South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and US leader George Bush. After a recent deterioration in relations between South and North Korea, Lee told Friday's Washington Post that he wants permanent liaison offices set up in Pyongyang and Seoul. Meanwhile, his government's recent lifting of a ban on American beef imports opens the way to a free-trade deal with Washington.

Lee and Bush share a business background, a belief in free-market economics and the Christian religion;

So their first-ever meeting is likely to go well, especially after Thursday's announcement that Seoul will allow greater access to its market to US beef, which was banned in 2003 as mad cow disease spread around the world.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab says that opens the door to "all US beef and beef products" and that this lifts "the major obstacle" to a free trade agreement (FTA) which has aroused opposition in the Democrat-majority Congress.  

The White House says the FTA will add about 20 billion dollars (13 billion euros) a year to trade between the two nations.

The deal, which would be the US's biggest for 15 years, has inspired opposition in South Korea too, sparking protests by farmers and left-wingers.

Lee's proposal for offices on the two Korean capitals is a new move to repair relations with Pyongyang, which have hit a bumpy patch since Lee's election.

Lee says that aid to the North must be linked to results on human rights and the abandonment of any possibility to build nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang has responded by kicking South Korean officials out of a joint industrial complex, accusing the South of breaching sea-border violations and threatening to reduce the South to "ashes" if there's a military confrontation.