N.Korea Must Start Disarming to Get Aid, South Says

South Korea pledged yesterday to ship 400,000 tons of rice to North Korea, but said the Stalinist state must first begin meeting disarmament commitments made in February, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 20).

“We made clear that it would be difficult for us to proceed with the rice aid as scheduled unless North Korea acts to fulfill the Feb. 13 agreement,” said Chin Dong-soo, who led the delegation from Seoul to talks in Pyongyang.

Seoul halted rice shipments after North Korea fired off several missiles in July 2006.

Pyongyang agreed at six-nation talks in February to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and readmit international inspectors by April 14.  These are meant to be the first steps toward  North Korean nuclear disarmament, for which it would receive fuel oil and other assistance.  North Korea has yet to take either action, demanding first that it collect $25 million in frozen funds from Banco Delta Asia in Macau (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, April 22).

North Korean atomic energy chief Ri Je Son said Friday that “brisk” negotiations are under way on the money matter, and that denuclearization would begin once the issue is closed, AFP reported.

Pyongyang “still remains unchanged in its will to implement the Feb. 13 agreement, but what matters is that it cannot move as the issue of frozen funds has not yet been completely settled,” he said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, April 20).

A senior South Korean official said today that China, the United States and North and South Korea should consider conducting nuclear talks separate from the six-party forum, the Yonhap News Agency reported.  That would leave out Japan and Russia.

“There is a need to create the framework of four-nation talks to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, while maintaining the six-party talks,” said Lee Hae-chan, a presidential adviser for political affairs.

“The four nations should take a more powerful initiative” on ending the nuclear crisis, he said (Yonhap News Agency, April 23).

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