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The governments of South Korea and China admitted on Wednesday that a much-hailed process whereby North Korea was to shut down its nuclear facilities by April 13 has hit a snag. Under the Feb. 13 six-nation agreement, the North was to shut down the facilities in return for an initial shipment of energy aid, but as of April 4, no progress had been made.
The process floundered on the refusal of international banks to handle some US$25 million of North Korea¡¯s money the U.S. has unfrozen in a Macau bank. The six nations have yet to find a way to get the money to the North. During an India visit Wednesday, South Korea¡¯s Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said, "Basically, I believe that the Banco Delta Asia issue will be resolved¡± before the deadline. ¡°But I also consider of the possibility of the issue remaining unresolved." China¡¯s chief nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei said, "There's nothing we can do."
Among the steps envisaged under the Feb. 13 agreement during the first 60 days, only two have been implemented over the last 50 days: five working groups were set up to discuss issues like normalization of Pyongyang-Washington relations, and another, fruitless round of the six-party talks convened. Last month, North Korea¡¯s chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan visited the United States, and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited North Korea. That looked like rapid progress in efforts to resolve the matter, but in essence nothing has changed.
According to the South Korean government, chances are practically zero that North Korea will implement in the remaining 10 days all the remaining steps ? shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, admit an IAEA inspection team, and discuss all nuclear programs subject to dismantlement. Nor has the problem of transferring the BDA money been resolved, although the U.S. is desperately trying to find a solution through contacts with China and North Korea. But since Washington itself designated the money as illegal earnings, banks refuse to touch it. And North Korea says it does not want to withdraw the money in cash.
Some experts worry that if the delay is protracted, the consensus behind the hard-won Feb. 13 agreement might fade away. Others say the situation can only benefit North Korea. Chun Seong-whun, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, "Now the BDA issue has become a matter the U.S. must find a solution to, while North Korea has been able to breathe more easily because of the resumption of aid from South Korea. The North is probably just watching and working out its future strategy."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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