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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
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TOKYO -- The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday that during his summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said he could not accept completely giving up his nuclear program, as demanded by South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The paper, citing a number of Japanese government officials, said that during his summit meeting with Hu in Beijing on April 19, Kim said he could not accept the elimination of his nuclear program in a complete, irreversible and verifiable way, as demanded by South Korea, the United States and Japan.
This is the first time a concrete statement by Kim concerning the nuclear issue has been released.
Kim also said North Korea was participating in the six-party talks in order to discuss compensation for its freezing its nuclear development program. He made very clear his position that he demands economic compensation like energy assistance as the price for freezing nuclear development.
In particular, he said the North would continue with its peaceful use of the atom, so the target of that freeze would be limited to military-use nuclear programs.
With Kim confirming that the North would stick to its existing position concerning the nuclear issue, the six party working-level talks scheduled to open in Beijing on May 12 are expected to be stormy.
The Yomiuri said China, which will chair the working group talks, is very worried about confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea during the talks.
A Japanese official said Kim's statement reflects the North's existing policy, which is to earn compensation by threatening nuclear development. It is known that in the second round of six-party talks in February, North Korea refused to completely give up its nuclear program and demanded compensation for a freeze of said program.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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