|
The United States and North Korea are finding some points of contact at six-party nuclear talks in Beijing, but the devil is in the details.
The two sides reportedly agree in principle that North Korea should dismantle its nuclear programs and ties between the two countries normalized. U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said Friday there were many points of convergence in some areas, but whether the two sides can come up with a written agreement remained to be seen.
But among the details, particular headaches include demands from Pyongyang for a peace treaty with Washington and the right to operate peaceful nuclear facilities, as well as the inclusion in nuclear disarmament of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.
The U.S., meanwhile, wants North Korea¡¯s human rights and conventional missile issues resolved to normalize relations with the Stalinist country, an official at the talks said. For Washington to announce it is starting diplomatic ties with North Korea after declaring the country a rogue state that supports terrorism would otherwise constitute too much of an about-turn.
North Korea says the peaceful use of nuclear energy is permitted even in the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But the U.S. worries that in a closed society like North Korea it would be easy to transform peaceful nuclear facilities into weapons-producing ones.
It is hard to say if a full accord can result. So far, there is talk of agreement on things such as security guarantees and opening up nuclear facilities in South Korea to inspection. Some have hopes of a document containing general agreements may be possible.
Meanwhile, Russia's Interfax agency reported North Korea currently had no nuclear weapons but has developed a detonator, considered the final stage of nuclear weapons development, which it could use to build nuclear bombs.
Quoting a diplomatic source familiar with the six-party talks, the agency said Pyongyang told Beijing in February it had completed development of a detonator. "After declaring its nuclear status, Pyongyang found it necessary to explain to China that a detonator for the activation of nuclear charges, which is the most complex component of a nuclear bomb, had been developed in North Korea," the source said.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of 25 nations attending the ASEAN Regional Forum in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Friday called for a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear dispute and the defeat of international terrorism.
ASEAN welcomed the re-launch of the six-party talks and expressed hope for a peaceful solution acceptable to all involved. The grouping also expressed satisfaction with recent active exchanges between the two Koreas.
Besides the members of ASEAN, the forum was attended by countries including the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, the U.K. in its capacity as the EU president, as well as Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Pakistan and East Timor.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
