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North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator on Friday warned the North will bolster its ¡°deterrence¡± in response to U.S. pressure after five-day six-party talks on its nuclear program ended in Beijing without breakthrough. ¡°The U.S. is taking a tactic of both dialogue and pressure, and carrots and sticks,¡± North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said at a press conference ¡°We are responding with dialogue and shield, and by a shield we are saying we will further improve our deterrent." North Korea uses the term "deterrent" to refer to its nuclear arms.
Kim made it clear that Pyongyang has no plan to dismantle its nuclear arsenal for now, saying the North can discuss its nuclear program once the U.S. drops its ¡°hostile¡± policy and the confidence built between them makes it feel safe from a nuclear threat. Kim added if the U.S. drops its sanctions, the North can further discuss ¡°existing nuclear programs¡± except nuclear arms.
Kim said North Korea developed the weapons because of the U.S. threat, not because it was looking for rewards or economic support. Whether the U.S. has the will to change its hostile policy will define the six-party talks, he added. The talks, reconvened after a 13-month hiatus, again ended without delegates setting a firm date for the next meeting.
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U.S. chief negotiator in six-party nuclear talks Christopher Hill (left) and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan during the talks which ended Friday.
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The renewed failure fueled concerns that talks with the North are meaningless in South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Since it was the first round of the six-party talks since the North¡¯s nuclear test in October, all attention focused on whether the North can be persuaded to halt operations at its nuclear facilities. But that failed.
Analysts say North Korea gained from returning to the talks. It was able to present itself internationally as a nuclear power, and it achieved separate bilateral negotiations with the U.S. about Washington¡¯s sanctions on the North¡¯s account in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia on the sidelines. This could provide grounds for North Korea¡¯s insistence that fulfilling its part of a statement of principles adopted in last year¡¯s talks is linked to the sanctions. In the September 2005 statement, the North in principle agreed to jettison its nuclear program in return for aid and security guarantees.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, however, gained nothing. They tried to put a brave face on their failure Friday, saying the fifth round was a ¡°stepping stone¡± to the next round. Others will argue that the six-party mechanism doesn¡¯t work. The question whether the North has any intention of giving up nuclear arms it has invested so much time and money in will become more urgent.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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