Bush, Chinese president agree N. Korea should scrap nukes

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed Friday that North Korea should scrap its nuclear weapons program and pledged to resolve the standoff peacefully. But the leaders did not say how they will sway Pyongyang, which accused Bush anew of warmongering.

"Both sides will continue to work toward a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution of this issue," Bush said after more than an hour of talks and a tour-by-pickup of his 1,600-acre ranch.

China, a major trading partner of Pyongyang, is key to Bush's plans for increasing economic pressure on North Korea to disarm.

"Chinese always held the position that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-weapon free," Jiang said in a joint news conference with Bush.

"We're completely in the dark as far as the recent development," the Chinese leader said. "But today President Bush and I agreed that the problem should be resolved peacefully."

Afterward, a senior administration official said the leaders did not discuss, even privately, specific steps for punishing North Korea. He characterized the talks as the first step toward mobilizing international public opinion against the North Korean program.

The talks came on the eve of Bush's trip to Mexico for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where he will meet with leaders of Japan and South Korea to develop a joint strategy for working to press for North Korea's disarmament.

Chased indoors by chilly weather and the threat of rain, the leaders answered questions in a hangar that houses Marine One, the president's helicopter.

Jiang arrived 30 minutes late to the ranch, prompting Bush to glance at his watch as he awaited his guest. "We could be fishing," he cracked, pointing to a nearby pond.

Read from cue cards

All was forgiven later, when Bush and Jiang hopped in the president's white pickup for a tour of the Prairie Chapel ranch.

At the news conference, a heavily scripted Jiang read from cue cards as he answered two questions posed by Chinese reporters. Bush fielded his questions off the cuff, though he avoided direct answers to the queries.

Even as the leaders spoke, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations accused Bush of preparing a pre-emptive strike by including North Korea in the "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran.

Pak Gil Yon also said Pyongyang "was entitled to possess not only nuclear weapons but any type of weapon more powerful than that so as to defend its sovereignty and right to existence."

Bush and Jiang sidestepped questions about how they will respond to North Korea's defiance.

"Our first step to make sure we resolve this peacefully is to work with our friends, is to remind our friends of the dangers of a nuclear regime on the Korean Peninsula," Bush said.

The leaders touched on the usual issues that divide them.

Bush urged China to make progress on human rights, religious freedom and weapons proliferation. Jiang said the issues are important.

Bush was pressed to say he does not support independence for Taiwan, a renegade province.

A senior official said Bush voiced concerns about a continuing Chinese missile buildup across from Taiwan. For his part, Jiang raised the issue of increases in the quality and quantity of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.