QUOTE
NATO poised to affiliate with Seoul
‘Global partnership' status could be effective in 2008
June 27, 2006 ㅡ WASHINGTON ― The United States and Britain have proposed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invite South Korea, Japan and Australia to join as "global partners," a senior U.S. government official told the JoongAng Ilbo in a recent interview. The official, who asked that his name not be used, said the three nations may be able to win that associate status by 2008 if they wished to do so.
NATO's secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has stressed repeatedly in speeches and briefings that such global partnerships do not mean that NATO is seeking to become a global alliance. Although the U.S. official said that Seoul's affiliation would exclude participation in purely military operations, Mr. Scheffer told a group in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 27, "We will need to look at how to strengthen our relations with other interested and potentially force contributing countries, such as Australia or New Zealand. While NATO is not a global alliance, we need global partners to continue to meet today's challenges."
South Korea could be asked to participate in peacekeeping and disaster relief operations as part of the partnership, a source at the U.S. State Department said Saturday, but stressed that the partnership would have no relevance to inter-Korean security issues.
During the meeting of NATO foreign ministers that Mr. Scheffer was attending, Washington and London proposed inviting Australia, Japan and Korea to form a partnership, according to that State Department official. The proposal was received positively, he said, adding that the U.S. government has been encouraging Seoul to accept.
That official also denied that the intent of the partnerships would be to check Chinese expansion, saying that the idea of inviting China to join as a partner had not been ruled out.
A decision on extending invitations to the three nations will be made at the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, in November, he said. Two years of prepatory work would be required before the formal partnership goes into effect.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has 26 members and, to date, 20 global partners, including Russia. Partner nations have representatives at NATO headquarters in Belgium. Partners also participate in the Atlantic Treaty Association, a group of national organizations promoting the work of NATO and the Atlantic Treaty that is the group's charter.
Although NATO has intervened in some regional disputes in the past two decades, it has also been groping for a core mission since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of its founding purpose, deterrence of a Soviet attack on Western Europe.
by Kang Chan-ho <myoja@joongang.co.kr>
‘Global partnership' status could be effective in 2008
June 27, 2006 ㅡ WASHINGTON ― The United States and Britain have proposed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invite South Korea, Japan and Australia to join as "global partners," a senior U.S. government official told the JoongAng Ilbo in a recent interview. The official, who asked that his name not be used, said the three nations may be able to win that associate status by 2008 if they wished to do so.
NATO's secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has stressed repeatedly in speeches and briefings that such global partnerships do not mean that NATO is seeking to become a global alliance. Although the U.S. official said that Seoul's affiliation would exclude participation in purely military operations, Mr. Scheffer told a group in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 27, "We will need to look at how to strengthen our relations with other interested and potentially force contributing countries, such as Australia or New Zealand. While NATO is not a global alliance, we need global partners to continue to meet today's challenges."
South Korea could be asked to participate in peacekeeping and disaster relief operations as part of the partnership, a source at the U.S. State Department said Saturday, but stressed that the partnership would have no relevance to inter-Korean security issues.
During the meeting of NATO foreign ministers that Mr. Scheffer was attending, Washington and London proposed inviting Australia, Japan and Korea to form a partnership, according to that State Department official. The proposal was received positively, he said, adding that the U.S. government has been encouraging Seoul to accept.
That official also denied that the intent of the partnerships would be to check Chinese expansion, saying that the idea of inviting China to join as a partner had not been ruled out.
A decision on extending invitations to the three nations will be made at the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, in November, he said. Two years of prepatory work would be required before the formal partnership goes into effect.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has 26 members and, to date, 20 global partners, including Russia. Partner nations have representatives at NATO headquarters in Belgium. Partners also participate in the Atlantic Treaty Association, a group of national organizations promoting the work of NATO and the Atlantic Treaty that is the group's charter.
Although NATO has intervened in some regional disputes in the past two decades, it has also been groping for a core mission since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of its founding purpose, deterrence of a Soviet attack on Western Europe.
by Kang Chan-ho <myoja@joongang.co.kr>
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200606/26/2...0090409041.html
