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Six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program entered their sixth day on Sunday, or their eighth since initial U.S. North Korea contacts, amid more signs of the uphill struggle ahead. Participants are now haggling over a rough statement of principles drafted by China, bashing their heads together on Sunday for over four hours that reportedly left wide gaps in opinions.
U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said participants were discussing a short but vital document that would take some time of tough negotiations to hammer into shape. A U.S. official said this would be impossible to achieve by Monday, hinting that a gulf between Washington and Pyongyang remains deep.
Japan was more blunt, with an official saying it was ¡°impossible to evaluate the Chinese draft positively¡± and calling it ¡°insufficient.¡± The Japanese press reported last-minute U.S. demands to include North Korea¡¯s human rights and conventional missiles were kept out of the draft.
U.S. and Japanese officials say the draft calls on North Korea to give up its "nuclear-weapons related" programs, a far cry from the two countries¡¯ demand that it give up all projects including peaceful-use nuclear facilities.
North Korea's position on the Chinese draft is unknown. In its keynote address, it had called for the U.S. to normalize diplomatic relations before it abandons its nuclear programs. It also called on the United States to withdraw its nuclear arms umbrella from South Korea, a peninsula-wide nuclear-free zone, and ¡°trust-building measures¡± between the Washington and Pyongyang.
It appears key North Korean demands were equally left out of the draft, especially, to the Stalinist country¡¯s chagrin, a call for Washington to normalize ties with Pyongyang and abandon what it regards as ¡°hostile¡± U.S. policy toward it. "North Korea's interest is certainly in getting security guarantees from the United States," a South Korean official said.
Participants reportedly agreed to defer discussion of concrete steps for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program until working-group talks in September. There is also no disagreement that compensation will be matched to the stages by which North Korea dismantles its nuclear program on a quid-pro-quo basis. China's Xinhua News Agency reported the draft re-affirms that a 1992 Joint Declaration for Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula between the two Koreas is still in effect.
North Korea experts say that even though participants are more willing than ever, the statement would likely lay out promises for promises ? a commitment to scrapping the nuclear programs in return for promises of security guarantees and economic aid -- rather than agreement on concrete action.
The head of the Sejong Center for North Korean Studies, Paik Hak-soon, said a statement of intent from both sides was the likeliest outcome, while Prof. Kim Geun-shik said, "The question of the order of North Korea's dismantling of its nuclear program and the provision of security guarantees still remains, but a statement of principles is possible if the participants avoid this."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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