Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Yeltsin building bridge to the East Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NEWS ANALYSIS \HD Yeltsin building bridge to the East \SH South Korea to be his keystone \BY Gerald Nadler \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT MOSCOW MOSCOW - In every speech and interview while in South Korea, Boris Yeltsin spoke plainly: Russia is turning toward Asia, and South Korea will be the pivot on which it revolves. In this policy rotation, Mr. Yeltsin will be turning away from former Soviet hard-line ally North Korea. Analysts already are calling the Pyongyang connection "Mr. Yeltsin's northern wall." Russia's friendlier ties to the enemy of its former close communist ally, North Korea, began under Mikhail Gorbachev, like so many other initiatives, which galls Mr. Yeltsin. But Mr. Yeltsin, who cannot quite shake off the mental shadow of Mr. Gorbachev, brought a clarity and openness to his South Korean gambit that his predecessor could never quite muster. "I want to stress particularly that Russia and South Korea are partners, and there is nothing today which could divide us," the Russian leader told a joint news conference with South Korean President Roh Tae-woo yesterday. Moscow and Seoul signed deals to strengthen military ties at the expense of communist North Korea and to study an ambitious project to search for gas in Siberia and then build a pipeline to transport it to South Korea. The Russian president took with him to Seoul the black boxes of the tragic KAL Flight 007 shot down by a Soviet interceptor in 1983, handed them over to Mr. Roh and then solemnly shook his hand in apology. A total of 269 persons died in the tragedy. He also visited the eternal flame, dedicated to those who fell in the Korean War, in which Moscow supplied North Korea, and pledged to release secret documents about the origins of that war. "Today, our foreign policy is shifting from the United States and Western Europe to Asia and the Pacific," Mr. Yeltsin told the South Korean parliament. "I think this visit is the beginning of this process." Mr. Yeltsin also noted that the Russian two-headed eagle, the old imperial symbol of Russia, looks both east and west, and that the eagle's eyes were now gazing distinctly eastward. He did not blink when a reporter asked whether his trip meant Russian policy was now actively turning eastward. "It is turning," Mr. Yeltsin said. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who has been criticized for a policy focused almost exclusively on the West, said the Korean trip will be a springboard for penetrating Asia. "It is a very proper choice that this new beginning has begun with South Korea," Mr. Koyzrev said. "It places relations on a proper plane between Russia and Japan and Russia and North Korea." Planning was already under way for visits to India, China and Japan, Mr. Kozyrev said. But a senior member of Mr. Yeltsin's team said the date for the Japanese visit was not set. Russian television said South Korea was the natural partner for Russia's new Pacific policy. "South Korea is following a path of democracy and a market economy and is a model of a successful scientific technological revolution," the television commentator said. "And another plus: Russia and South Korea have no unresolved political problems. "Whereas relations with Japan are clouded because of the Kurile Islands territorial dispute and will not likely be normalized soon. "And while relations with China are good, this giant socialist state is going through its own transformation, and it is not yet known what is in store for it." Because the United States is decidedly a Pacific power, Mr. Yeltsin's high-profile trip also carried a message for President-elect Bill Clinton: Russia will seek support for its reforms where it can and will not become a dependent of the West. Failure to support Russia's democracy will have "consequences for the entire world," Mr. Yeltsin told a news conference yesterday. He signed a 15-point treaty with Seoul on establishing bilateral relations and pledged to end Soviet military aid to North Korea, the Itar-Tass news agency said. Economically, Mr. Yeltsin won a resumption of aid from South Korea. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM