|
Observers forecast rough sailing ahead for six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program as Wednesday¡¯s keynote addresses revealed larger-than-expected gaps between the U.S. and North Korea and the two sides added more hard-to-resolve issues.
North Korea reportedly turned down a U.S. offer, calling "irrational" a proposal to abandon its nuclear program before Washington takes steps to normalize relations with Pyongyang. Washington wants the North to follow the examples of Libya and South Africa in yielding to its key demand unconditionally first, but Pyongyang says that is putting the cart before the horse. Instead, it wants diplomatic relations and an end to what it sees as a regional nuclear threat to ¡°foster trust¡± before it acts on its nuclear program.
 |
|
The chief negotiators at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Clockwise from top left, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev, Japanese Director-General for Asia and Oceania Sasae Kenichiro, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.
|
 |
|
North Korea restated its goals for the six-party talks as "removal of the U.S. nuclear threat and the turning of the Korean Peninsula into a nuclear-free zone." It believes there are also problems with nuclear arms involving South Korea and U.S. forces based there.
Meanwhile, the U.S. goal is for the North to dismantle all its nuclear weapons and programs. This is in line with Seoul's position. The U.S. wants all "nuclear programs" dismantled. This means even those facilities used peacefully to provide nuclear energy. North Korea says it will retain the right to use nuclear energy peacefully, while the United States says that since North might switch its peaceful nuclear facilities into military-use ones at any time, it wants a complete dismantlement of nuclear facilities in North Korea.
North Korea reportedly used the term "abandonment of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs" during its keynote address on Wednesday. It did not directly say it is a nuclear state but the phrase assumes it already has nuclear arms. It seems to have in mind a simultaneous disarmament, with the U.S. removing its nuclear shield protecting South Korea from the region and the nuclear weapons capabilities of U.S. Forces in Korea, which would be in line with its previous calls for the six-party talks to turn into mutual disarmament negotiations. The U.S., for its part, is now also eyeing Pyongyang¡¯s conventional missiles, which it had so far kept off the table. North Korea's long-range missiles threaten other surrounding states, but under international law it is not obliged to dismantle them.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking government official expressed dissatisfaction with what he called "changes in the U.S. position." In negotiations prior to the six-party talks, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan provisionally agreed a more progressive draft proposal, which Seoul feels the U.S. has now reneged on. The official said the draft agreement worked out between the three chief negotiators in Seoul on July 14 lost its luster when U.S. delegation head Christopher Hill fine-tuned it with officials back in Washington.
The official cited two examples. The first was that in a bilateral meeting on Monday, the U.S. side demanded human rights should become part of the agreement after all. The other was that the three had come up with a proposal including security guarantees and the lifting of sanctions that the North could accept, but once in Beijing, the U.S. added a host of conditions and preconditions that made it virtually unacceptable to Pyongyang. However, these have not been disclosed.
¡±Hill was going to resolve the nuclear issue with a changed attitude, but it appears that conservatives got to him during discussions in the United States,¡± the official said. ¡°Our side expressed displeasure during their meeting with the U.S. side, telling them, 'With this kind of content, how can we come up with a joint written agreement?'" He said the money would in any case come from South Korea and surrounding nations, ¡°and all the United States has to do is verbally guarantee it, but it isn't doing so." Due to the changes in the U.S. position, each nation will now have to present their own positions, he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
