|
The United States and North Korea resumed six-nation talks on the Stalinist country¡¯s nuclear program after a 37-day break with strong bids to take control of the agenda. No snap agreement at this early stage seemed likely as all six nations involved settled in for the long haul.
Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, said, ¡°The question is what [North Korea] has done during that one month." When discussions went into recess last month, Hill said he hoped the North Koreas would go home to give the issues some serious thought, a roundabout way of pressuring Pyongyang, which had rejected a draft statement of principles.
North Korean chief delegate Kim Kye-gwan was assertive on the eve of the talks, saying North Korea has the right to use nuclear power peacefully. "This right is neither awarded nor needs to be approved by others," he said. ¡°Because it is a justified right, we cannot accept the United States adding conditions about this."
Hill said unofficial contacts between the two sides during the recess made little progress. The biggest point of contention is the scale of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, both the broader question of whether to acknowledge its right to a civilian nuclear program and, if so, whether to permit construction of a light-water reactor.
During the break, Washington looked as if it could recognize the civilian program in principle. After meeting with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Monday, Hill said it would be inappropriate to focus too much on the issue of North Korea's right to a peaceful nuclear program. But Pyongyang is specifically talking about light-water reactors, or asking other parties to build them for it, as was planned before the North tore up the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Both the U.S. and South Korea have ruled this out.
Washington wants the statement to call on Pyongyang to ¡°dismantle all its nuclear weapons and programs.¡± But North Korea wants it to read "abandon" its nuclear weapons and "nuclear weapon programs." That is less a question of whether nuclear facilities can produce weapons or not but a question of intention. It is for this reason that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has said the North must give up nuclear weapons even in its head.
The question whether the statement will read ¡°abandon¡± or ¡°dismantle¡± could be of some consequence. The last draft read "abandon." Ban said this meant physically destroying the facilities, but a South Korean official said later the term differed from "dismantle," which indicated something more along the lines of knocking and tearing down. Washington wants everything torn down, but there could be debate whether graphite reactors in Yongbyon should be included.
But not all is gloom and doom. North Korea has replaced the vice head of its team, Foreign Ministry Director General for North America Li Gun, a hardliner, with his deputy Chung Tae-yang. Li proved so implacable that South Korean and U.S. negotiators have said they avoided discussions between the vice delegation heads as much as possible.
Nor were Kim Kye-gwan's and Christopher Hill's comments on the first day entirely intransigent. Kim said he would conduct discussions faithfully and show flexibility when needed, while Hill said his team had come to Beijing ¡°to sit down and negotiate and try to finish this thing.¡± South Korean delegation head Song Min-soon said, "If each party shows flexibility, there will be good results."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
