U.S. to Study North Korea Statement on Talks

Washington is studying Pyongyang’s statement that it wants six-party nuclear talks involving China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States to be transformed into a wide-ranging disarmament discussion, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, March 31).

“We’ll study it (the statement) carefully. We’re starting to look at it now.  It’s not really clear what they mean,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday.

He added that the talks are still meant to free the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

“That’s true and that’s something everybody’s accepted,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, April 1).

The statement by Pyongyang “was not helpful,” said U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill.

“Serious problems should not be dealt with … sarcastic statements,” said Hill, adding that North Korea should “stop with these silly press announcements” and resume negotiations (Burt Herman, Associated Press/ABC News, April 1).

Meanwhile, North Korea today set a date for its Supreme People’s Assembly to meet, after last month postponing a regular session of the body, Reuters reported.

The third session of the 11th Supreme People’s Assembly is set to meet on April 11, according to Pyongyang’s official news agency.

Analysts had speculated Pyongyang might have canceled the meeting to focus attention on controversy surrounding its nuclear program (Reuters, March 31).

Elsewhere, a British official said yesterday that the international community should consider penalties if Pyongyang fails to remedy its human rights record and to adequately address its nuclear weapons program, AFP reported.

“If … North Korea does not in time, genuinely and constructively, engage both on our human rights concerns and on the concerns about its possession of nuclear weapons, then we will have to look for tougher options of containment or sanctions,” said Foreign Secretary Bill Rammell (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 31).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.