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It looks likely that six-party talks on North Korea¡¯s nuclear program will be revived soon, now the U.S. has secured agreement from China, which chairs the discussions. The U.S. has also reportedly attained Russian agreement to the timetable. At the top of the agenda is verifying the declaration of nuclear programs and stockpiles the North has submitted.
Bush is under pressure to produce some kind of result in the final days of his presidency. Already the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a dubious legacy. The North Korean nuclear problem is his last chance of a lasting diplomatic achievement.
"It's the worst possible scenario that the U.S. failed to achieve progress on the verification issue despite having removed North Korea from its blacklist of countries supporting terrorism,¡± a South Korean government official said. ¡°The Bush administration wants to be seen as having managed to lay at least a bridgehead for the third phase of the denuclearization issue by gaining an accord on verification." Early December may well be the last chance for the Bush administration as his successor Barack Obama is sworn in in January.
It remains to be seen if the North will play along. It said on Nov. 12 that collection of samples was ¡°not included¡± in verification activities it will permit. There are expectations that the U.S. will be flexible in the way it describes sample collection and the timing, and that the North will then back down.
That does not seem unlikely: the North is under pressure to show the U.S. administration-in-waiting that it is willing to play ball, and the impending winter means it needs fuel -- one of the rewards promised under the six-party talks.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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