North Korea Accepts Nuclear Concessions, Disarmament

North Korea today agreed to begin the process of nuclear disarmament in return for energy and economic aid from other nations participating in six-nation talks in Beijing (see GSN, Feb. 12).

Pyongyang must close its operating nuclear reactor and allow U.N. nuclear inspectors back into the country within 60 days, according to the tentative agreement.  In total it would receive about $400 million in fuel oil and support, the New York Times reported.

The deal came in the early morning of the sixth day of negotiations.  It must still be approved in the capitals of China, Japan, Russia, the United States and North and South Korea.

Specific steps to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons and weapon-grade fuel would be left to future talks.

“We feel it is an excellent draft,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington’s lead envoy to the talks.  “I don’t think we are the problem” (Yardley/Sanger, New York Times, Feb. 13).

One recently departed Bush administration official disagreed, the Associated Press reported.

“I am very disturbed by this deal,” said former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.  “It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world:  “If we hold out long enough, wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded,’ in this case with massive shipments of heavy fuel oil for only doing partially what needs to be done” (Audra Ang, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 13).

The agreement requires Pyongyang within 60 days to close and seal its Yongbyon nuclear facilities under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  The Stalinist state would in return receive energy, food and additional support equivalent to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, AP reported.

Washington and Tokyo agreed to begin the process of normalizing relations with Pyongyang.  The United States would also begin removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and look to end trade sanctions.

Foreign ministers from the negotiating nations would meet in 60 days to confirm that the agreement’s requirements have been met and to discuss northeast Asian security cooperation.  Talks would also be planned on a permanent end to the Korean War, which has been under a cease fire since 1953.

Pyongyang would receive support equivalent to 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil upon submission of a full list of its nuclear programs and shuttering off all atomic sites.  Details of this effort are to be discussed in later talks, according to AP.

Working groups are to be formed covering five areas:  denuclearization, relations between North Korea and the United States, relations between Japan and North Korea, economic cooperation, and a peace and security mechanism for northeast Asia.

Six-party talks would resume on March 19 (Associated Press II/New York Times, Feb. 13).

Doubts remain about Pyongyang’s willingness to actually give up its nuclear arsenal, which it sees as insurance against forced regime change.  “This is a freeze with a promise to negotiate subsequent disarmament,” Clinton administration nonproliferation official Gary Samore told the Times.  “And a North Korean promise to negotiate later is pretty worthless” (Yardley/Sanger, New York Times).

In a potential sign of trouble, North Korea said its agreement only requires a temporary closing of nuclear sites, AP reported (Ang, Associated Press).

“This is only one phase of denuclearization,” Hill said of today’s agreement, according to the Times.  “We’re not done.”

China, South Korea and the United States would provide the oil and support.  Japan is waiting for resolution to the issue of abduction of its citizens by North Korea before it participates in that effort.

The White House has tried to distinguish its recent disarmament efforts in North Korea from the 1994 Agreed Framework approved by the Clinton administration.  That pact pledged the United States to provide up to 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for heating and electricity production annually once Pyongyang froze work at its nuclear sites, and eventually to supply light-water reactors to North Korea.

The Bush administration derided the plan for failing to ensure that North Korean nuclear fuel was shipped out of the nation before it received large amounts of support, the Times reported.  The agreement was dissolved in 2002 after Washington said Pyongyang had acknowledged operating a secret uranium enrichment program.

The White House notes that the new plan does not involve providing nuclear reactors to Pyongyang, but does involve participation by China and other nations near North Korea (Yardley/Sanger, New York Times).

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