US embassy cable - 03HARARE1466

UNCLAS HARARE 001466 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION NORTH KOREA; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "China shows the way" the pro- 
      government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" dedicated its July 20 
      editorial to hailing China's "efforts to encourage and 
      promote a diplomatic solution" over a crisis stemming from 
      North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons program.  Excerpts 
      follow: 
 
  2.   ". . .The vast Asian country's efforts to encourage 
      and promote a diplomatic solution of the current nuclear 
      controversy are commendable and serve to show the direction 
      in which all attempts to resolve the this thorny issue 
      should take.  On the contrary, the Bush administration has 
      been pressing the Security Council for action on North 
      Korea, an effort Pyongyang tried to stop in a letter to the 
      Council last month. . .The recent experience of the Iraq 
      invasion. . .should serve as a lesson on how not to 
      approach the North Korean issue.  And unlike Iraq, North 
      Korea does have a weapons of mass destruction program in 
      place, which makes the threat of nuclear war more than a 
      real possibility. . . ." 
 
SULLIVAN