BANGKOK, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush secured a pledge from South Korea Monday to dispatch troops to support U.S. forces in Iraq.
During a day devoted mainly to ceremonial functions at the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Bush held private talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
A joint statement issued after the talks indicated a positive response to Bush's call for help in Iraq from the Republic of Korea but left the scale and timing of the commitment vague.
"Regarding the U.S. request for the dispatch of additional troops to Iraq, President Roh explained that as a result of conducting a comprehensive review of the overall situation, including the importance of the ROK-U.S. alliance and national interest, the ROK government has decided to dispatch additional troops to Iraq so as to provide assistance for a prompt establishment of peace and reconstruction in Iraq," said the statement. "President Roh stated that the size, type and form of the troops as well as the timing of the dispatch will be decided by taking into account public opinion, the result of the survey team and the characteristics and capability of the Korean military forces."
The statement quoted Bush as expressing "respect and gratitude to President Roh for making the principled determination to dispatch troops."
On Sunday Bush thanked Thailand, the host of the APEC summit, for its decision to send army engineers to support U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During his talks with Roh on Monday, Bush also touched on the issue of the North Korean nuclear weapons program, reiterating "the U.S. has no intention of invading North Korea and the U.S. expects North Korea to end its nuclear weapons ambitions."
North Korea has said the main motive for its nuclear program was concern over a possible attack by the United States.
Bush was quoted in the U.S.-South Korean joint statement as saying "security assurances might be provided" to help persuade Pyongyang not to go nuclear.
Also on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called on North Korea's communist leaders to abandon their nuclear program for their own good.
In a keynote address to the APEC CEO summit, Powell said the United States was willing to provide assurances "that would persuade them that nuclear weapons are not what they should be pursuing and instead they should be working with their neighbors and with the international community to improve the economy."
Bush has also used the APEC summit to exhort regional leaders to join forces with the United States in its "war on terrorism." On Sunday, he told Thai veterans to join forces with the United States "until the terrorist threat is fully and finally defeated."
Bush, who arrived in Thailand Saturday night, praised the Thai government's contribution to the war on terrorism and for sending contingents of troops to support U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He singled out Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, with whom he met earlier Sunday, for his decision to send a small force of Thai army engineers to help rebuild Bagram Air Base outside the Afghan capital of Kabul. Thailand sent a larger force of 422 engineers to the help rebuild the central Iraqi city of Karbala.
He also praised the Thai government for its cooperation with U.S. agents in the arrest in August of an Indonesian national, Hambali, in the Thai city of Ayutthaya. Hambali is suspected to have been the mastermind behind last year's deadly bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Bush labeled Thailand a "force of good throughout Southeast Asia," citing the kingdom's commitment of peacekeeping troops to the world's newest nation, Timor-Leste.
The three-day state visit to Thailand is the third stop in Bush's whirlwind tour of Asia that began Friday in Japan and continued with a visit Saturday to the Philippines. Bush is also to visit Singapore, the Indonesian island of Bali and Australia.
The centerpiece of the Asia trip is the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which officially kicks off Monday with a meeting of 21 heads of government -- including China's President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
