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U.S. Official Plays Down North Korean Reactor Bid By David Ruppe WASHINGTON — The top U.S. negotiator in talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons capabilities yesterday played down comments by Pyongyang that the country be allowed to operate a nuclear power reactor as part of any deal (see GSN, Aug. 10). Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill said the United States opposes North Korea obtaining a light-water reactor. However, he said the issue is not necessarily a deal killer and expressed optimism that an agreement might be reached in the six-nation talks. “Obviously, [a] light-water reactor is something that came up at the end [of recent negotiations] and would be problematic, but I don’t want to put the entire onus on that. I’d say, though, there was a real effort by all the parties to try to negotiate seriously and negotiate with the aim to reach an agreement, so I was kind of encouraged by that sort of attitude in the talks,” he said yesterday at a press conference in Washington. A top South Korean official today said Seoul supported North Korea’s demand that it be allowed to have a nuclear energy program, according to an Agence France Presse report. “On this point, we have different views from the United States,” South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young reportedly said. Following a 13-month hiatus, 13 days of six-party talks aimed at eliminating North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and suspected weapons ended Sunday in Beijing without any initial agreement. The discussions were halted over North Korean insistence in the final days that it receive assistance in developing a light-water reactor, an idea the other parties opposed, Hill told reporters on Sunday. The top North Korean negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, said Tuesday that a light-water reactor must be a part of any deal and said the United States would need to change its policy to allow the project, the New York Times reported yesterday. Hill said such a reactor might enable North Korea to resume a nuclear program in the future. “This is a country that had trouble keeping peaceful energy ‘peaceful,’” he said, noting that North Korea in 2002 ejected international nuclear inspectors, withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and began using an ostensibly scientific research reactor to produce weapon-grade plutonium. A former U.S. official and a former journalist wrote earlier this year that those moves followed rejection by President George W. Bush of a secret offer from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to engage on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for security guarantees (see GSN, June 22). Hill said North Korea now is being offered an energy deal that would make constructing a light-water reactor unnecessary (see GSN, July 13). “The overall agreement is designed to give incentives to D.P.R.K. [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] not to need to develop nuclear energy,” he said. He said no other country “is prepared to pay for them to have light-water reactors.” Given the two countries’ history of hostile rhetoric, critics previously have questioned whether either the U.S. or North Korean governments truly want a negotiated deal. Public rhetoric from both governments, however, has notably cooled in recent weeks and Hill yesterday insisted he has full Bush administration support in his efforts. “I had complete backing for what I was doing. … I think I’ve got all the support I need to try to get this deal, from our point of view. It takes more than one to tango, though,” he said. The current round of talks is scheduled to resume the week of Aug. 29.
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