WASHINGTON — President Bush and South Korea's new leader hold their first official meeting this weekend in an atmosphere sobered by the latest demonstration of how far they remain from their most important shared goal: removing nuclear weapons from North Korea.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meets Bush at Camp David, in Maryland, just as U.S. officials have detailed a pending agreement that relaxes a long-standing administration demand that Pyongyang make a "complete and correct" disclosure of its nuclear assets and activities.
The approach has grown out of talks involving North Korean and U.S. officials along with representatives of South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. Not all details of the talks or the agreement have been disclosed.
The White House and State Department both denied this week that they had lowered the bar for North Korea, saying the tactical shift would help propel stalled talks and reveal the extent of the country's nuclear program.
Under the new proposal, U.S. officials would provide Pyongyang with findings and concerns from American intelligence assessments, and the North would "acknowledge" U.S. concerns, officials said.
That means Pyongyang wouldn't have to immediately address U.S. allegations that it has operated a uranium-based nuclear weapons program or that it has helped Syria with a nuclear program.
The Bush administration has repeatedly insisted on such disclosures in the past, while Pyongyang has denied the charges.
For meeting the new requirements, Pyongyang would receive what it has described as "political compensation:" The United States would remove it from the stigmatizing list of countries that sponsor terrorism, and from a list of countries that face trade restrictions under U.S. law.
The new South Korean government has voiced no misgivings about the agreement. Lee, who has promised a tougher stance on North Korea than his predecessor, is expected to express support for the agreement but say little else when he and Bush hold a news conference today.
Bush is said to support the latest approach. However, it has outraged conservatives and stirred unhappiness within the administration.
White House and State Department officials said the shift would help reach the larger goal of convincing Pyongyang to disclose details of its plutonium weapons program, the core of its nuclear effort. North Korea has denied that it also operates a uranium-based program.
