(5th LD) Museveni: Uganda to suspend security, military cooperation with N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES with Park’s meeting with business leaders of two countries and cultural performance)
By Kim Kwang-tae

KAMPALA, May 29 (Yonhap) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni vowed Sunday to cut off his country's security and military cooperation with North Korea in the latest increase in international diplomatic pressure exerted on Pyongyang over its nuclear program, a South Korean official said.

North Korea is under the toughest U.N. sanctions ever over its fourth nuclear test and its long-range rocket launch earlier this year. Still, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called his country a "responsible nuclear state" in the clearest sign yet that he won't give up its nuclear program.

"I have instructed officials to faithfully enforce the U.N. Security Council resolution, including disengagement from North Korea in the security, military and police sectors," Museveni said in a summit with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye, according to South Korean presidential spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk.

Museveni's pledge illustrates growing international pressure on North Korea over its defiant pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. He also sent a clear message to Pyongyang that Uganda is on the same page as South Korea and the international community, and not siding with North Korea.

Museveni's commitment "is expected to be a big help in convincing other African countries to enforce the U.N. resolution," said Kim Kyou-hyun, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs.

Kim also described Uganda's disengagement as very "meaningful" as Uganda is one of the major African countries that has a close relationship with North Korea.

Uganda has been maintaining military cooperation with North Korea, and the long-time Ugandan leader has visited Pyongyang three times. Some 50 North Korean military and police personnel are believed to be working in Uganda, according to South Korea.

It remains unclear whether Uganda will deport the North Korean personnel.

Repeated calls to the North Korean embassy in Uganda seeking a comment went unanswered on Sunday. In a symbolic gesture of Uganda's policy shift, the African country signed a deal with South Korea on defense cooperation.

"Uganda appears to have made a strategic judgment that it should give more weight to substantial cooperation with us rather than military cooperation with North Korea as Uganda pursues a strategy for national development," said Kim.

Also Sunday, Park had expressed confidence that her summit with Museveni would serve as a good opportunity to boost friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Park is the first South Korean president who has visited Uganda since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1963.

The summit -- the third such meeting between the two leaders -- came as South Korea is reaching out to Africa to boost business opportunities with the continent that has huge growth potential.

Museveni has cited South Korea as a model for his country's economic development.

South Korea has become a donor country from a key recipient of U.N. aid in half a century, a transformation that has inspired many developing nations to follow in the footsteps of the Asian country in advancing their economies.

Park told Museveni that she anticipates the two countries will strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, resource development, education and culture.

After the summit, Park and Museveni watched as their representatives signed 10 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between the two nations.

The MOUs call for, among other things, bilateral cooperation in the energy and plant sector, a move that Seoul says could help South Korean companies make inroads into Uganda's infrastructure market.

A consortium led by GS Engineering & Construction Co., a major South Korean construction firm, has been in talks with Uganda over a US$1.5 billion project to build a refinery near Hoima in western Uganda.

Museveni said he hopes South Korean companies will actively participate in establishing an energy infrastructure, including the construction of a refinery.

One of the pacts calls for bilateral cooperation in the generation, distribution and transmission of electrical power.

Uganda is pushing to build two hydroelectric power plants by 2020 to increase its power generation capacity to 2,500 MW from 827 MW in 2014. It also plans to ramp up per capita power consumption to 578 kWh by 2020 from 80 kWh in 2013.

"Both of our countries can obtain successful results if South Korean companies can continue to participate in major infrastructure projects,” Park said in a separate meeting with about 250 business leaders from the two sides at a hotel.

Separately, Park watched a cultural performance that featured B-boy dancing, a demonstration of the traditional Korean martial art of taekwondo as well as Uganda’s traditional dancing.

Uganda is home to about 10,000 people who have been practicing taekwondo since the Korean martial art began to spread in the African country in the late 1960s.

Uganda is the second stop on Park's swing through Africa. The trip is set to take her to Nairobi on Monday for talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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