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When North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan met his U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill in New York on March 5, a source familiar with U.S.-North Korean relations says, Kim asked Hill to "treat us the way you treat India."

It was a reminder that U.S. President George W. Bush signed the U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2006, which allows sales of nuclear technology to India although the country has developed nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Bush has been criticized for giving India exceptional treatment.

The source quoted Hill as replying North Korea “can never become an India." That suggests Washington will not establish full diplomatic ties with the North so long as the nuclear weapons exist.

The quoted remarks corroborate analysis that North Korea is attempting to normalize relations with the U.S. without scrapping the nuclear weapons it has already built. It remains to be seen whether Kim’s demand reflects North Korea's bottom line or was a mere statement for negotiation purposes. The Feb. 13 agreement does not mention the dismantlement of nuclear weapons even at the stage when the nuclear facilities have been disabled, which observers say will necessitate separate negotiations to dismantle the nuclear weapons.

In Washington on Monday, former Korean ambassador to the U.S. Han Seung-joo said the Feb. 13 agreement “is proof that the United States is giving priority to freezing the nuclear facilities, preventing North Korea from producing additional nuclear weapons and transferring nuclear materials overseas. It’s highly likely that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons, so the Feb. 13 agreement will unlikely attain the level of the [1994] Geneva Accords."

(englishnews@chosun.com )