US News
Key US policies will not see major changes following elections
By DPA
Nov 9, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - US foreign policies toward North Korea, Iran and the Middle East will not undergo major changes despite elections that swept the opposition Democratic Party to majorities in Congress, the US State Department said Thursday.

'We believe that on the topics that are in the headlines - whether it's North Korea or Iran or the Middle East - that we have in place the right approaches to deal with those issues,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Elections unseated US President George W Bush's centre-left Republican Party, which had held majorities in both the Senate and the lower House of Representatives. The outcome reflected voter anger over the war in Iraq and contributed to the resignation of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

In addition to ousting Rumsfeld, Bush has signalled that he is open to new ideas to the resolve the more than three-year conflict in Iraq, which has led to the deaths of more than 2,800 US soldiers.

McCormack, said, however, there will be few changes with regard to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes and the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

'I don't anticipate any major changes in policy, any major course corrections,' McCormack said.