North Korean Standoff poses 'Greatest Threat,' Carter Says by James Brooke The New York Times 11:59am 7th Sep, 2003   September 6, 2003    TOKYO, Sept. 5 — Former President Jimmy Carter, the man credited with defusing the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, warned here today that the current standoff was the world's "greatest threat."    Former US President and Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter slammed the stance of the administration of President Bush, which has branded the North Korean government part of an 'axis of evil.' Carter speaks to reporters during a news conference in Tokyo on September 5, 2003. (Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters)    "This paranoid nation and the United States now are facing what I believe to be the greatest threat in the world to regional and global peace," Mr. Carter said of North Korea. The Bush administration, which has avoided using the word "crisis" in referring to North Korea's revival of its nuclear program, had no immediate comment on Mr. Carter's Asian visit or his message.    Mr. Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, met here today with Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. On Sunday he flies to Beijing where he is to meet with top Chinese leaders. Traveling on an agenda to promote aid to Africa, he said he had no plan to repeat his 1994 trip to North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, which opened the way to the first nuclear agreement with North Korea.    "Unfortunately both sides have violated some of those agreements," he said, criticizing North Korea for enriching uranium in order to make bombs. "At the same time, the United States has refused direct talks, has branded North Korea as an axis of evil, has declared an end of no first use of atomic weapons, has invaded Iraq and has been intercepting North Korean ships at sea."    Warning against pushing North Korea, he added, "That country is isolated, very fearful of outside threats, economically punished by longstanding sanctions with a superb military technology and the ability to destroy hundreds and thousand of lives and most of Seoul if a war should come."    He urged a continuation of the six-party talks in Beijing that took place last week with the participation of China, Japan, Russia, the United States and North and South Korea.    Mr. Carter said North Korea should renounce nuclear weapons and the use of violence in dealing with South Korea. Next Tuesday North Korea's leadership celebrates the 55th anniversary of the founding of the country. Many outside analysts fear that North Korea could use the anniversary to declare itself a nuclear power or hold a nuclear test.    In return for North Korea's giving up its bombs and its bomb-making capabilities, Mr. Carter said, the United States should agree to a nonaggression pact with North Korea, negotiated and guaranteed by North Korea's neighbors.    "A unilateral decision by the United States the North Koreans would not trust," he said. Other incentives, he said, could include "the lifting of all economic and political sanctions against North Korea and the opportunity for that little country to become completely absorbed in world affairs on a normal basis."    Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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