U.S. Makes Four Demands of North Korea

The United States last week set four major preconditions for North Korea to meet before six-nation talks can resume to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis, Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday (see GSN, Dec. 1).

In talks last week in Beijing, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan (see GSN, Nov. 29).  The unusual meeting was intended to find a way to resume multilateral talks between China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

Hill delivered four demands, according to Yomiuri.  North Korea must:

-- close its nuclear test by filling existing tunnels or by other means;

-- declare all nuclear facilities and activities;

-- open all sites to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors; and

-- suspend all plutonium production.

“North Korea needs to accept the preconditions before the six-party talks resume, and show a willingness not to let the situation deteriorate further,” said a Japanese official.  “Then we’ll enter full-fledged negotiations to discuss practical measures for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” (Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 2).

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