North Korea Shows Flexibility on Disarmament

North Korea might not wait for delivery of oil supplies before continuing ahead with its pledge of nuclear disarmament, a South Korean official said today.  That would be a break from Pyongyang’s previous requirement of “action for action” in the denuclearization process, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 7).

“Even if North Korea’s denuclearization proceeds faster than the reciprocating economic and energy aid measures, North Korea is willing to agree, based on the principle of mutual trust,” said deputy South Korean nuclear negotiator Lim Sung-nam.

Representatives from the six-party talks nations met yesterday and today at the border of the Koreas to discuss plans on providing energy assistance to the North for carrying out a February agreement to fully shutter its nuclear program.

South Korea has already shipped 50,000 tons of fuel to Pyongyang, which stands to collect another 950,000 tons of oil or equivalent assistance.

Pyongyang is looking for ongoing shipments of 50,000 tons of oil, AP reported.  There has also been talk that some support might take the form of upgrades to North Korea’s deteriorating infrastructure.

North Korea today asked for equipment and material that would be used for power plant repairs, according to Lim (Associated Press/NDTV.com, Aug. 8).

“We cannot reveal everything North Korea brought to the table this time, but we can say they did have concepts for what can be called consumption-based assistance and investment-based assistance,” one South Korean official said yesterday, according to the Yonhap News Agency (Yonhap News Agency, Aug. 7).

Pyongyang has said that its immediate steps toward denuclearization would not include removing 8,000 spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactor site at Yongbyon, Kyodo News reported yesterday.

North Korea indicated its willingness to discuss the matter and other nuclear materials issues at the next round of six-party talks, expected in September (Kyodo News, Aug. 7).

Meanwhile, the leaders of North and South Korea are scheduled to meet at the end of this month, Reuters reported.

The Aug. 28-30 session would be the second ever meeting between the two nations’ leaders.

“The summit is not going to contribute to the resolution of the nuclear issue in any way.  But be prepared for another wave of unification euphoria in the South,” said North Korea expert Brian Myers of Dongseo University.

“The summit appears to have more to do with South Korea’s presidential election in December.  Whether the left-wing government in South Korea is surviving is a key concern for North Korea too,” said Lee Dong-bok, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Seoul (Jack Kim, Reuters/Washington Post, Aug. 8).

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