By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter

A reelected U.S. President George W. Bush would take a more aggressive approach to the North Korean nuclear standoff during his second term in the White House but would be unlikely to resort to drastic action that could threaten the security of the Korean peninsula, experts in Seoul predicted Wednesday.

Foreign affairs specialists said Bush would draw confidence from his election victory and feel he had greater leverage to pressure Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons programs.

``Bush could be tougher this time,’’ said Choi A-jin, professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies. ``That doesn’t mean he is going to attack North Korea, but he will put serious pressure on it to make a deal.’’

North Korea emerged as a significant foreign policy issue during the long and often hostile U.S. election campaign.

Democratic challenger John Kerry repeatedly attacked the incumbent over his lack of action in preventing the North’s resumed nuclear development and vowed to engage in direct, bilateral talks with Pyongyang if elected.

But Bush has insisted he will maintain the six-party talks aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff, arguing that they are the best way to keep North Korea clean and reach an enforceable agreement.

A Washington official said last week that the U.S. would push for a resumption of the stalled multilateral talks this month if the Republican were reelected.

``Having won a second term as president, Bush could afford to be less patient with North Korea,’’ said Park Sang-seek, rector of Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Peace Studies.

Park expected Bush would press harder at the talks and seek to isolate Pyongyang if it refused to negotiate.

``He may put pressure on South Korea and China to try to persuade North Korea to give up its weapons programs,’’ he said, adding that if this failed Bush would likely ask the U.N. Security Council to apply economic sanctions against the North.

Pyongyang, which many observers believed had been buying time on the nuclear issue hoping for a Kerry victory, could find itself with little room to move.

``North Korea is very worried about Bush’s reelection. It would have to compromise,’’ Park assessed, adding that the communist country’s serious economic difficulties mean it could not risk further isolation.

But Park would not rule out the possibility of North Korea resorting to an act of brinkmanship if pressured by the U.S.

Bush’s reelection would also mean the U.S. plan to reduce one-third of its troops from the Korean peninsula by 2007 would go ahead.

Kerry had questioned the troop cut, saying that it sent the wrong message to North Korea at a time when the U.S. should be showing its firm commitment to the security of the peninsula.

rjs@koreatimes.co.kr