North Korea Sets Demand for Resuming Nuclear Talks

North Korea today announced that it would not participate in six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons programs unless the United States ends sanctions against several of its firms suspected of illicit activities, including supporting WMD proliferation, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 5).

“It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such provocative sanctions applied by the U.S.,” the official Rodong Sinmun announced in a commentary.

“The U.S. should take substantial steps to lift financial sanctions on our country at an early date as agreed upon in the fifth round of talks if the U.S. wants the resumption of nuclear talks and their progress,” it said.

Meanwhile, Seoul’s top envoy to the talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, said he would discuss a timetable for a new round of talks with the other participants this week and could attempt to mediate between Pyongyang and Washington. He added that Seoul’s “role is to make sure that the North-U.S. row won’t affect the six-party talks” (Kwang-Tae Kim, Associated Press/CNN.com, Dec. 5).

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