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Rudolph Giuliani, a U.S. Republican presidential candidate, called for Washington to devote more foreign policy attention to Asia, saying America's future is linked to the region.

John Edwards, a Democratic candidate, said the U.S. must re-engage with nations that are security threats, including North Korea.

In the continuing series of essays by presidential hopefuls, Foreign Affairs magazine featured Giuliani and Edwards in its September/October edition. The preceding edition carried Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

"Much of America's future will be linked to the already established and still rising powers of Asia," Giuliani wrote.

"These states share with us a clear commitment to economic growth, and they must be given at least as much attention as Europe."

The former New York mayor called the alliance with Japan the rock of stability in Asia.

"South Korea has been a key to security in Northeast Asia and an important contributor to international peace," he said, while Australia continues to assume a greater role in world affairs and India will serve as a pillar of security and prosperity in South Asia.

On national defense, Giuliani took a firm stance, demanding the next president press ahead with a missile defense system and to expand the interdiction of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

"America can no longer rely on Cold War doctrines such as 'mutual assured destruction' in the face of threats from hostile, unstable regimes," he wrote.

"It is well within our capability to field a layered missile defense capable of shielding us from the arsenals of the world's most dangerous states," he said.

"President George W. Bush deserves credit for changing America's course on this issue. But progress needs to be accelerated."

He said the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, an international cooperative network to stop and seize WMD shipments, is laudable and effective and should be strengthened.

Giuliani was most critical of the United Nations, saying it may be "useful for some humanitarian and peacekeeping functions, but we should not expect much more of it."

"The U.N. has proved irrelevant to the resolution of almost every major dispute of the last 50 years. Worse, it has failed to combat terrorism and human rights abuses. It has not lived up to the great hopes that inspired its creation," he said.

"History has shown that such institutions work best when the United States leads them. Yet we cannot take for granted that they will work forever and must be prepared to look to other tools."

Edwards, former North Carolina senator, advocated re-engagement and preventive diplomacy with even those deemed the enemy.

The U.S. must "solve problems before they occur, rather than scrambling to deal with crises after they have erupted," he wrote in Foreign Affairs. "With engagement comes far greater knowledge and the potential for progress and even trust."

He went back to the days of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who, at the height of the Cold War, chose to talk with Soviet leaders and turned back major threats to national security.

"We need to do the same with Iranians and North Korean leaders," Edwards said.

The recent six-nation agreement, under which North Korea shut down its nuclear reactor, is encouraging, though long overdue, he said.

"It is a sign that the carrots-and-sticks approach can work."

"Pyongyang's words, however, are not enough. We must require a commitment to future action," Edwards wrote. "We must engage the North Korean government directly, through the six-party framework, placing economic and political incentives on the table in exchange for the verified, complete elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons capability."

In re-engaging the world powers, the candidate warned that China, Russia and India will test U.S. leadership.

China is growing as a significant U.S. trading partner but also a growing economic competitor, especially in dealing with nations possessing rich energy resources, he pointed out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown a pattern of bellicose rhetoric against the U.S. and threatens to withdraw from arms control treaties, said Edwards.

A U.S. partnership with India is vital in this century, but the Asian giant is still grappling with poverty and terrorists, he noted.

The U.S. must strengthen ties through both national and international tools, "reforming the U.N. so that there is a place for India on the Security Council and working with India to help it achieve a credible and transparent plan to permanently separate its civilian and military nuclear programs," he said. WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap)