Long Hours Mark North Korea Talks

Negotiators worked into the early morning Tuesday in Beijing in hopes of reaching an agreement to begin moving North Korea toward dismantling its nuclear weapons program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 9).

Envoys to the six-party talks had spent more than 14 hours in meetings that began Monday morning.

“It is up to the North Koreans.  We have put everything on the table.  We have offered a way forward on a number of issues.  They just need to make a decision,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said before negotiations began Monday.

A South Korean official said this round of talks has “reached a final phase.”

Diplomats have met sporadically since 2003.  There is concern that failure to reach some sort of agreement now would essentially kill off the talks.

“There’s a certain life cycle to these negotiations,” Hill said.  Rejection by Pyongyang of the latest proposal might produce “some political climate change, if not in the U.S., then maybe among some other countries.”

However, Hill added, “I don’t want to predict that this is the last chance.”

North Korea has expressed its willingness to freeze work at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and to release an accounting of its nuclear sites, Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei told visiting Japanese lawmaker Fukushiro Nukaga, AP reported.

The talks appeared stuck on how much energy assistance Pyongyang would receive as it moves toward denuclearization.

There were different reports regarding North Korea’s energy demands, ranging from 2 million kilowatts of electricity to 2 million tons of heavy fuel oil.  A Kyodo News report pegged the amount at 1 million tons of oil each year prior to nuclear disarmament, and 2 million annually afterward (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 12).

“The problem is that North Korea has excessive expectations about this, and unless it reconsiders this issue, an agreement will be difficult,” lead Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae told Kyodo News.

The proposed agreement prepared by China calls on North Korea to close Yongbyon and allow nuclear inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.  It does not set out a specific time frame for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons or weapon-grade material, the New York Times reported.  Another agreement would be necessary for North Korea to hand over those items.

Hill indicated that further talks could be conducted in March or April, assuming this meeting ends in success.

“We’re not looking to provide energy assistance so that they could avoid taking the further steps on denuclearization,” he said.  “We understand that you can’t just get there in one jump, you have to take several steps, so we’re prepared to take several steps.”

The agreement calls for “tight timelines for actions that are measured in months, not years.”  That includes a number of measures in the first two months, including shuttering Yongbyon.

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