|
North Korea appears to have agreed to holding a second round of six-way talks starting February 25 because it judged any further delay would leave it in a disadvantageous position. China will hold its People's Congress in March, and has been strongly demanding that the talks happen in February. In addition, Korea, Japan, and the United States have told the North they will be willing to talk about the North's proposal for "simultaneous actions."
At cabinet-level inter-Korean talks that started on Tuesday in Seoul, North Korea made the sudden announcement that it wants to hold another round of six-way talks, perhaps to create an amicable atmosphere for the talks.
 |
|
A North Korean delegation led by Kim Ryong-seong leaves Incheon International Airport to attend an inter-Korean ministerial meeting in Seoul on Tuesday./Yonhap
|
 |
|
Since the first round of six-way talks in August 2003, Korea and the U.S. have been negotiating with North Korea on agreeing to a "joint declaration" ahead of a second round of talks. But the U.S. and the North have been so far apart on the subject, so strategy changed in December to just trying to hold immediate talks without a prior declaration.
The fact that the only agreement arrived at with North Korea over the last six months of negotiations is that there will be a second round of talks demonstrates how the prospects are not bright. The government sees this, and one official said "It's news when the North agrees to coming to these talks."
"Even if we can't expect much from the upcoming six-way talks," said Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck, the head of our delegation to the current cabinet-level talks in Seoul. "The position of each country will become clear."
The North has been calling for something called "[North] Korea/U.S. simultaneous action" in what it suggests would be the first stage in resolving the nuclear crisis. It has announced on several occasions that aside from "stopping experimentation and production of nuclear weapons," it could also be willing to cease "the production of peaceful nuclear energy." In exchange, it wants to be removed from the United States' short list of terror-sponsoring nations, have a retraction of political, economic, and military sanctions and "blockades," and energy aid such as oil and electricity from neighboring nations. This would all happen "simultaneously."
The Bush Administration has not looked on the North's proposal favorably. The U.S. is demanding the North issue a clear renouncement of nuclear weapons, since it was the North that violated the 1994 Geneva Agreement and the North that created the current crisis. Each side is expected to clash over the North's alleged highly enriched uranium (HEU) program for developing nuclear weapons. The North denies it has such a program, while the Bush Administration insists it is discussed at the next six-way talks.
Korea and the U.S. have agreed to not entertaining high expectations for the talks, and have decided to work for the creation of a "six country working group." The group would meet on a smaller scale between sessions of the six-way talks, to focus on resolutions to the nuclear crisis in more detail.
(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )
|
