A nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula is in the interest of the people in the region, US President George W. Bush said Tuesday.

 

Bush made the remarks at a round-table interview with a group of Asian reporters at the White House ahead of his scheduled visit to Asia including China, Japan, South Korea and Mongolia on November 15-21.

 

"It's definitely in the interest of the people in the region that there not be a nuclear weapon anywhere on the peninsula," he said.

 

A nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula, he said, is not only conducive to the interests of East Asian countries, but also to the interests of Russia and the US.

 

"Even though we're seemingly removed, it's in our national security interest that we achieve this objective," he said.

 

It is the position of the five parties -- the US, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China -- that are working with North Korea to achieve the goal of having a denuclearized peninsula, he said.

 

Bush noted that it was the US' understanding of the agreement on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue that there should be "results in the dismantling of a program, and at the appropriate time we'll discuss the light water reactor."

 

He cautioned that "a certain degree of patience" was needed to negotiate the nuclear issue on the peninsula.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2005)