Kim Pledges Commitment to Korean Denuclearization

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said yesterday that his regime has no intention of turning back on its agreement to dismantle its nuclear programs, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 30).

Kim made his pledge during a meeting with Wang Jiarui, liaison office chief for the Chinese Communist Party, according to the Xinhua News Agency.  It comes as the six-party process has faltered over Pyongyang’s seeming unwillingness to provide a full declaration of its nuclear activities.

“The present difficulties are temporary and can be conquered,” Kim said.  “There are no changes in the North’s stance to continue pushing forward the six-party talks persistently and implementing all the agreements.”

The process has slowed amid North Korean charges that the other six-party nations — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and, in particular, the United States — have failed to follow through on their promises of rewards for denuclearization.  Pyongyang stands to receive energy, diplomatic and security benefits for fulfilling the terms of the 2007 nuclear deal.

“As long as all the parties fulfill promises according to the ‘action-for-action’ principle, the talks will conquer obstacles and continually forge ahead,” Kim said (Associated Press/Washington Post, Jan. 31).

Sung Kim, the U.S. State Department’s top Korea expert, arrived today in Pyongyang to press North Korea for the nuclear declaration, Xinhua reported.  His visit is expected to last through Saturday (Xinhua News Agency/China Daily, Jan. 31).

A main sticking point has been that a November nuclear list provided by North Korea did not address Washington’s satisfaction suspicions that the regime has operated a uranium enrichment program.

Bush administration officials suspect that Pyongyang received uranium enrichment centrifuges from the nuclear black market network once operated by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.  North Korean officials have denied operating any uranium program alongside its known plutonium weapons efforts.

“Why don’t you invite A.Q. Khan to join the negotiations?” Kim Myong Gil, North Korean envoy to the United Nations, told Asia expert Selig Harrison recently.  “Where is the invoice?  Give us the evidence.”

In a Washington Post commentary, Harrison said that obtaining access to Khan could help resolve U.S. suspicions on the uranium issue.  Pakistan to date has not allowed outside investigators to meet with the scientist.

“The United States should put the Khan issue at the top of its agenda in Islamabad.  At the very least, the [International Atomic Energy Agency] should be able to question him about what he gave not only to North Korea, but also to Iran and Syria,” Harrison wrote (Selig Harrison, Washington Post, Jan. 31).

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