US President George W. Bush, speaking at a joint press
conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Camp
David, Maryland on Friday, reaffirmed that diplomacy remained the
preferable choice to solve the North Korea nuclear issue.
Bush also made clear his belief in the six-party talks, which
gather the United States, North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan
and Russia, in an effort to broker a deal over the denuclearization
of the Korean peninsula.
However, Bush called upon North Korea to honor its February 13th
commitments which would see the state shut down its nuclear
reactor.
"Our partners in the six-party talks are patient, but our
patience is not unlimited," Bush warned, striking a fiery tone.
The lingering financial disputes between the United States and
North Korea has seen the original deadline for shutting down the
reactor missed, a state of affairs lamented as "regrettable" by
Abe.
Turning to the issue of "comfort women," Abe expressed his
apologies to "the people who had to serve as comfort women" while
addressing the US Congress and explained his perspective to Bush, a
statement that seemed to satisfy the US President.?
"The comfort women issue was a regrettable chapter in the
history of the world and I accept the prime minister's apology,"
Bush said.
US officials have repeatedly called upon Abe to apologize and
have upbraided him for denying any coercion of women into sex
slavery by Japanese troops during World War II.
An estimated 200,000 women were forced to serve as sex slaves in
Japanese military brothels during World War II, most of the hailing
from invaded territories at the time.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)
