Slow Progress Reported in North Korea Talks

Negotiators said today they were making limited headway at the latest round of six-party talks toward agreement on a Chinese plan to begin the nuclear disarmament of North Korea, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 8).

“There are some parts in which we had progress but on others we ran into difficulty,” lead Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae said following today’s negotiations.  “We will continue with the talks, but at this point in time I don’t feel there is a prospect of reaching an agreement.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill had a slightly sunnier take on the negotiations, but acknowledged that disagreements remain on the details.

“The fundamental issues we’re OK on,” he said.  “I’m still cautiously optimistic.”

The Chinese plan calls for Pyongyang to shut down its Yongbyon reactor within two months in exchange for energy support from the other negotiating nations — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

North Korean concerns were focused on one paragraph of the Chinese document, which is being reworked in response, AP reported.

Hill and lead North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan met for two hours today.  That produced agreement on some, but not all, of the issues.  “We are going to make more efforts to resolve them,” Kim said.

Pyongyang is looking for Washington to first prove it no longer has “hostile” intentions toward the Stalinist state, according to the regime-friendly Choson Sinbo newspaper in Japan.

“As conditions mature, (North Korea) can halt the operations of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities,” the newspaper said.  “The (North’s) position is that it can take corresponding measures when the U.S. takes steps to show that it irreversibly gave up its hostile policy” (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 9).

China hopes to see the negotiating nations form five working groups to address different aspects of North Korean nuclear disarmament, The Korea Times reported today.

One would be focused on normalizing relations between Pyongyang and Washington, according to the Yonhap News Agency (The Korea Times, Feb. 9).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.