hankyoreh

The U.S. and its allies have been patient in waiting for North Korea to denuclearize, but the patience "is not unlimited," President George W. Bush said Friday.

Speaking after a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the president said they spent much time talking about North Korea and the six-party talks.

How much more time to give to Pyongyang will be determined in concert with allies, Bush said.

"But as I said, our patience is not unlimited, and that's the operative word for the leader of North Korea to understand," he said.

On the comfort women issue, Abe closely repeated his previous phrasing.

"I do have deep-hearted sympathies that the people who had to serve as comfort women were placed in extreme hardships and had to suffer that sacrifice," the prime minister said, referring to those who were sexually enslaved during World War II to serve sex to Japanese soldiers.

"And that I, as prime minister of Japan, express my apologies, and also express my apologies for the fact that they were placed in that sort of circumstance."

Bush called the issue a "regrettable chapter in the history of the world" and added, "I accept the prime minister's apology."

"I appreciate his candor," he said.

In talking about the six-party talks, Bush emphasized diplomacy, calling it the "first choice" of the U.S. in tackling difficult situations.

"There's still time for the North Korean leader to make the right choice," the president said.

Abe expressed a more resolute stance, saying North Korea's dire conditions, including its food shortage and economic plight, will not be resolved without denuclearization.

"So they need to respond properly on these issues. Otherwise, we will have to take a tougher response on our side," the prime minister said.

"In our negotiations with North Koreans, we now have learned full well their negotiating ploys."

The Bush-Abe summit coincided with a critical juncture in the six-party talks, a denuclearization forum among South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. In a Feb. 13 deal, Pyongyang committed to shutting down its primary nuclear facilities and inviting back international inspectors within 60 days of the agreement, which was April 13.

North Korea has delayed implementing its promised steps, demanding it must first get hold of some US$25 million a Macanese bank previously froze but decided earlier this month to release in negotiations with the U.S.

Banco Delta Asia (BDA) seized the money after the U.S. Treasury accused it in September 2005 of laundering money for Pyongyang.

The Treasury last month issued a ruling forbidding American institutions from doing business with the bank.

The Feb. 13 deal put U.S.-North Korea relations on a new track different from when Bush labeled Pyongyang a part of an "axis of evil." The agreement created a working group for the two countries to discuss eventual diplomatic normalization and started a process within the U.S. to remove North Korea from the list of nations sponsoring terrorism.

North Korea's past abduction of Japanese citizens is cited as an example of Pyongyang's terrorist acts in an annual report issued by the U.S. One of Tokyo's concerns is that Washington will sideline the issue in discussing North Korea's removal from the list.

"President Bush once again expressed his unvarying commitment to support the government of Japan" on this matter, Abe said.

Bush said efforts to move six-party talks forward "should not obscure my strong sentiment about the abductee issue." "And I will work with my friend (Abe) and the Japanese government to get this issue resolved in a way that touches the human heart," he said.

Bush said he and Abe had "a personal visit" on the comfort women, a topic on which Abe has been harshly criticized by neighboring countries and the U.S. media.

Tens of thousands of young girls were lured or kidnapped and put into frontline brothels, most of them victims from Korea, which was under Japanese colonial rule at the time. Abe stirred up anger when he said last month there was no evidence that the women were coerced. His subsequent statements have been rejected by the victims as falling short of a clear-cut apology and acknowledgement of responsibility.

Bush characterized Abe's words as "very straightforward and from his heart" and called for a focus on the future rather than the past.

"Our jobs are to, obviously, learn lessons from the past -- all of us need to learn lessons from the past -- and lead our nations forward," he said.

"And that's what the prime minister is doing in a very capable way."
Washington, April 27 (Yonhap News)