Bush and Roh discuss NKorea, comment on Syria

SHOTLIST 1. US President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Oval Office 2. Reporters in Oval Office 3. SOUNDBITE (English) George W. Bush, US President: "Well, I've been disturbed by reports I read in today's newspaper that said that Syrian intelligence officers might still be in Lebanon. And might still be there. And our message to Syria, and it's not just the message of the United States, the United Nations has said the same thing, is that in order for Lebanon to be free is for Syria to not only remove its military, but to remove intelligence officers as well. Obviously, we're going to follow up on these troubling reports and we expect the Syrian government to follow up on these troubling reports." 4. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card 5. SOUNDBITE (English) George W. Bush, US President: "The South Koreans and the United States share the same goal and that is a Korean Peninsula without a nuclear weapon. And that's what we've been discussing how best to do that. The president and I both agree that the best way to do that is the six-party talks, are essential to saying to Mr. Kim Jong Il that he ought to give up his weapons. By making it very clear to him that the way to join the community of nations is to listen, to China and South Korea and Japan and Russia and the United States, and that is to give up nuclear weapons." 6. Cutaway of President Roh 7. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean President: "Everytime we meet together, Mr. President, questions abound regarding the possible existence of differences between Korea and the United States surrounding the North Korean nuclear issue, but every time I meet you Mr. President in person, I come to the realisation that there indeed is no difference between our two sides with regard to the basic principles. In fact, we're in full and perfect agreement on the basic principles. And whatever problem arises in the course of our negotiations and talks, we will be able to work them out under close consultations." 8. Cutaway of the two leaders speaking 9. UPSOUND: Bush - "Thank you all very much" 10. Bush shakes hands with Roh STORYLINE US President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday sought to bridge their differences on Friday over how to coax North Korea back to disarmament talks. Pyongyang has boycotted the six-nation talks on its nuclear programme for nearly a year. The Bush administration has appealed to both China and South Korea to do more to persuade North Korea to rejoin the talks and has hinted that it might seek UN sanctions if the reclusive communist regime continues to pursue nuclear arms. But South Korea, which is in the process of improving ties with the North, has taken a softer stance, shows little enthusiasm for going to the UN Security Council and opposes a military option. North Korea has sent mixed signals on whether it will return to the talks, which also include the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Earlier this week, North Korean diplomats indicated they were willing to rejoin the talks, but set no date. A North Korean official later boasted that the communist regime already had a nuclear stockpile and was making more weapons. Bush said that despite such talk, he was hopeful that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could be persuaded to send a delegation back to the talks and to abandon nuclear ambitions. He offered no new inducements to the reclusive nation, saying trade and economic incentives contained in a US-backed offer made last June stood. Still, Roh suggested some disagreements with the US over North Korea remained, but went on to say that "whatever problem arises in You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7d4b8db6cf8b7d9625dd11217a2147bf Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork