Bush says new coalition handling North Korea crisis

SAN BERNARDINO, California (AFP) Oct 16, 2003
After leading "the coalition of the willing" to war in Iraq, US President George W. Bush now says a new group, "the coalition of the peaceful," is handling the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Bush casually premiered the label during a group interview in Washington this week with Asian and Australian reporters as he set the stage for his whirlwind six-nation tour of the region.

The president said he and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whom he meets Friday in Tokyo, would discuss ways to strengthen the multiparty talks Washington says are the best way to deal with Pyongyang.

"I will talk to the prime minister about how to, you know, what we need to do to keep the process alive and strong and to keep the coalition of the peaceful united so that we have one message and one voice," said Bush.

That would make China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia members of the new club.

Ironically, "coalition of the peaceful" is what the US Communist party called for in a March press release -- as a counterweight to the "coalition of the willing" that backed the war in Iraq.

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