Negotiators Prepare to Resume North Korea Talks

The U.S. chief nuclear negotiator to North Korea said today that denuclearization talks were entering a “very important phase” as officials prepare to resume six-party discussions tomorrow (see GSN, Sept. 25)

Undersecretary of State Christopher Hill said the discussions would take on a vital role as countries aim to have Pyongyang declare and dismantle its nuclear programs.

“The last stage, of course, is the elimination of all these programs, but I think this will really set the stage for that,” he said.  “This is a very important phase” (Anita Chang, Associated Press I/Washington Post, September 26).

U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed cautious optimism that North Korea could follow through on a nuclear disablement deal if it is given the right incentives, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

A South Korean foreign ministry official said that talks this week would likely focus on a report by U.S., Russian and Chinese nuclear experts who visited the mothballed Yongbyon nuclear facility last week to examine how the site’s bomb-making capability could be permanently dismantled.

“Basically, the countries will discuss what disablement is and how the nuclear facilities will be disabled, but a joint statement (if issued) could also include fundamental discussions on the dismantlement phase that should follow the disablement of the Yongbyon facilities,” the official said (Byun Duk-kun, Yonhap News Agency, Sept. 26).

Meanwhile, Russia is expected to provide North Korea with 50,000 tons of fuel oil in November under an agreement reached during the six-party discussions, the Associated Press reported a high-level Russian diplomat saying yesterday.

“We, like our other participants of the six-sided negotiations, will be taking steps for compensation.  This obligates to do this in November,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov (Associated Press II/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25).

Meanwhile, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday that would require Pyongyang to cut suspected nuclear and missile exports from regimes such as Syria before it can be removed from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states, the Associated Press reported.

“Our policy toward this regime cannot be based on the hope that it will actually honor its commitments but based instead on its actual performance,” she said.

In February, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear activities in exchange for discussions on normalizing relations with the United States and possible removal from the U.S. list of designated state sponsors of terror.

Referring to reports that North Korea may have provided nuclear expertise to Syria, Ros-Lentinen criticized the “duplicity of the Pyongyang regime in pursuing proliferation ties with Syria even while continuing” the six-way denuclearization talks (Associated Press III/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25).

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