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North Korean Leader Demands “Respect” Before Committing to New Round of Nuclear Talks
Pyongyang is willing to resume multilateral talks on its nuclear program as early as next month if Washington treats it with “respect,” South Korean officials quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as saying last week (see GSN, June 17). “Kim … said if the United States firmly recognizes North Korea as a partner and respects it, North Korea can return to six-party talks, even in July,” South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who met with Kim last week in Pyongyang, said after returning Friday to Seoul. Kim also said North Korea would rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open the door to international inspectors if the dispute is resolved, according to Chung. “If the regime's security is guaranteed, there is no reason to possess a single nuclear weapon,” Chung quoted Kim as saying, the New York Times reported (Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times, June 18). Kim said he would also give up his arsenal of ballistic missiles if relations with Washington were repaired, Agence France-Presse reported today. “Kim told me that if North Korea and the United States establish ties and become allies, he would destroy all long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Chung was quoted by an unnamed official as saying today, according to the Yonhap news agency (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, June 20). “The meeting made a positive breakthrough in inter-Korea relationships,” South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said through a spokesman of the talks between Kim and Chung. “It offered a good opportunity for us to play a major role in resolving the North’s nuclear problems and we will put our diplomatic efforts on keeping up the momentum,” the spokesman said, according to Reuters (Reuters, June 19). Washington, meanwhile, said Friday that North Korea should act on Kim’s promises, AFP reported. “Statements are one thing, real action is another,” said one State Department official. “Until there is a little bit more meat to the bones, we are not going to start jumping up and down and waving arms,” the official said, adding that Washington would wait for “signs from the Chinese that there is really something in the works” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, June 17). Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill urged Pyongyang to set a date for a new round of talks, the Associated Press reported. “We want to have a date and we hope that this will happen in July,” Hill said (Burt Herman, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 20). South Korean envoys are scheduled to go to Washington, Moscow and Beijing for consultations on a possible resumption of talks, the Associated Press reported yesterday (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 19). Some analysts said North Korea was extending an olive branch to the United States and was likely to resume talks with a bit more prompting from Washington, AFP reported. “The ball is now in the U.S. court. ... If the United States gives it a friendly nudge, it (North Korea) will immediately come back to the dialogue table,” said Chon Hun-joon of the Korean Institute for National Unification. “North Korea gives a top priority to improving ties with Washington, and it knows very well that for this purpose it should not play the nuclear card beyond certain limits,” he said. “[Kim Jong Il] sent the ball back into the U.S. court by reaffirming the principle that the Korean Peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons and made positive remarks on the issue of verification,” said Kim Sung-han of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (Park Chan-kyong, Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, June 19).
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