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North Korean Leader’s Reported China Visit Could Signal Return to Nuclear Talks, Experts Say
The reported trip by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to China this week could indicate the reclusive regime’s willingness to resume stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations with other powers in the region and the United States, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 10). “I think the visit will ultimately help them bring North Korea back to the table, but I’m not sure Pyongyang is serious about negotiating,” said Peter Beck, director of the North East Asia project of the International Crisis Group. Kim could also be seeking assurances that Beijing intends to follow through on its promise last year of billions of dollars in additional support, Beck said. To receive that money, Pyongyang could be required to resume nuclear talks, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul (Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 11). Meanwhile, the top U.S. envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, is scheduled to meet with Japanese and South Korean negotiators today before flying to Beijing for consultations tomorrow with China’s lead representative to the nuclear talks, Reuters reported. However, a senior Japanese official expressed skepticism about any imminent return to the negotiating table. “There are no prospects for the next round of six-party talks at the moment,” the official said (Reuters, Jan. 11). Elsewhere, in Seoul experts criticized U.S. policy toward North Korea, the Korea Times reported today. Tough U.S. rhetoric is responsible for the delay in the negotiations, said Jeong Se-hyun, South Korean unification minister from 2002 to 2004. “We cannot but question whether the United States has a ‘real intention’ that is quite different from its ‘proclaimed policy’ of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue,” Jeong said. “Washington seems to want to keep North Korea as its ‘necessary enemy’ to maintain its control and interests in the Northeast Asian region,” he said. Another expert said Pyongyang would like to improve relations with Washington. “Kim Jong Il wants the United States, which has no territorial ambition in the region, to play a balancer role in Northeast Asia,” said Tong Kim. “He hopes that the United States would rein in the competition for hegemony between China and Japan. Once the United States politically accepts North Korea, North Korea’s harsh anti-American rhetoric would disappear at once” (Seo Dong-shin, Korea Times, Jan. 11).
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