Posted on 03/19/2005 8:08:18 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SEOUL, South Korea - From inside a mountainside bunker, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) saw firsthand Saturday what a war with North Korea (news - web sites) might look like. Rice became the most senior American official to tour a command center for U.S. and South Korean troops that would be the battle headquarters in the event of fighting with the communist North.
"I know that you face a close-in threat every day," Rice told troops at Command Post Tango, or Theater Air Naval Ground Operations.
Rice's visit coincided with a twice-yearly war exercise involving thousands of American and South Korean soldiers. When Rice got a look at the command center, it also was the first time that reporters and cameras were allowed into the bunker south of Seoul.
North Korea denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for a U.S.-led pre-emptive attack.
"The Republic of Korea, a great democracy now, faces a threat across the divide of a state that is not democratic, that is not free, and that does not have the best interests of its people at heart," Rice said.
Rice's trip to Asia is intended partly to push North Korea to resume nuclear disarmament talks. She repeatedly has assured North Korea that the United States has no intention of invading.
Still, more than 32,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Korea, with more at the ready nearby. They are testament to the tension and suspicion between North and South Korea (news - web sites) five decades after active hostilities ended in the Korean War.
"In parts of the world, the Cold War has ended and we've been able to (produce) a continent like Europe, that is now whole and free," Rice told commanders and troops. "But of course, divisions remain here in Korea."
In a large underground room that resembled a college lecture hall, Rice received a classified briefing on war preparations. In place of a blackboard, the room has a huge computer-driven display screen.
When reporters were brought into the room, the lighted screen showed only the State Department seal where maps or detailed planning data would be.
For the military exercise, about 17,000 U.S.-based troops were joining 6,000 soldiers stationed in South Korea. North Korea contended the exercise was "a maneuver for a nuclear war against the North."
"The U.S. imperialists unleash a new war, they will pay a high price," the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by its official news agency, KCNA.
On Sunday morning, Rice conducted an unusual press conference with Korean Internet reporters. The event, meant to highlight the freewheeling nature of computer communication in an open democracy, got off to a bad start when American security guards tackled a peace activist as he shouted to get Rice's attention.
"Miss Rice, the North Korean people are dying and they are crying for your help," yelled the activist, German physician and former aid worker Norbert Vollertsen. He held up a poster that read "Freedom for North Korea: 50 Years Overdue," until a U.S. Embassy employee ripped the poster in half.
As Rice took her seat for the news conference, security officers literally muffled Vollertsen as they wrestled him to the carpeted floor. He had talked his way into the event before Rice arrived, but an embassy public affairs officer recognized him at the last moment and demanded he be removed.
In replies to the Korean journalists, Rice described true democracy as the ability to "say what you wish, worship as you please and educate your children, boys and girls."
In contrast to the closed society of North Korea, Rice said, "you can come here and think what you want and ask me anything — the United States secretary of state — and what a wonderful thing that is."
Rice also met Sunday with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, explaining her plans to travel to China later that day and address North Korea's nuclear capability.
"This is a difficult problem. In fact, we don't see a clear key (to solve the issue) right now but if we try, I think we can resolve the problem," Roh's office quoted him as saying.
Rice appealed to China, North Korea's closest ally, to use its leverage to bring the North back to disarmament talks.
The United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China began a joint diplomatic effort with North Korea last year aimed at persuading the country to give up its nuclear program.
But those six-nation talks, hosted by China, stalled in September, when the North Koreans pulled out and refused to return to the discussions. North Korea announced last month it has built a nuclear weapon.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), left, shakes hands with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in Seoul Sunday, March 20, 2005. Rice, on a two-day trip to South Korea (news - web sites), represents the highlight of a recent flurry of diplomacy aimed at bringing North Korea (news - web sites) back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons program. (AP Photo/Kim Kyung-Hoon, POOL)
A South Korean protester holds a banner with a photo of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, March 20, 2005. Rice meets with the strongest proponent for dialogue with communist North Korea (news - web sites) when she consults with South Korean officials on Sunday to try to kick start stalled nuclear talks. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) delivers a speech to South Korean and US troops at the command control centre south of Seoul.(AFP/Pool/Kim Jae-Hwan)
I love those South Korean leftist NORM
NOTTT
Well I am pinging the North Korea watch list
Beside I think maybe this time this Secretary of State wont' get invitate from Little Kim at all unlike previous occupant
We should send him to the North as a human shield. I am sure he will do his duty. Not!:)
Condi taking South Korea (& soon red North Korea) in style!
Bump for another EXCELLENT Korea affairs FR thread which is altogether terribly under-read and under-responded to!
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