Patience Needed With North Korea, U.S. Envoy Says

The top U.S. negotiator to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program called today for patience following Pyongyang’s disputed claim that it has met a key milestone in its denuclearization process, Reuters reported (see GSN, Jan. 4).

The Stalinist regime in October pledged to fully declare its nuclear programs and to disable three key facilities by the end of 2007.  Officials from other nations in the six-party talks said Pyongyang missed both deadlines, but North Korea said it supplied a list of its atomic activities in November.

The Bush administration quickly rejected that claim.

“They were prepared to give a declaration which wasn’t going to be complete and correct and we felt that it was better for them to give us a complete one even if it’s going to be a late one,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said in Tokyo.

“We understand that this is always a difficult process, one that is rarely completed on time.  So I think we have to have a little sense of patience and perseverance,” he added (Teruaki Ueno, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Jan. 7).

“We don’t need a 90 percent declaration; we need a 100 percent declaration,” Hill said.  “They have not provided a complete and correct declaration.  By that I mean they have not included all of the nuclear programs they have, they have not included all the nuclear facilities they have” (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Jan. 7).

Hill is scheduled to visit China, Japan, Russia and South Korea this week for talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Reuters reported.

“As far as we know, there was a consultation between North Korea about the nuclear declaration but we have not heard of North Korea submitting the list,” said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-young (Ueno, Reuters, Jan. 7).

Officials in Washington maintained their stance that they were still waiting for the declaration, the New York Times reported.

“The North Koreans know what’s expected of them and what they rest of the parties are looking for, and that is a full and complete and accurate declaration of their nuclear activity,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.  “They know that.”

Criticism of the missed deadline has been muted because work continues on disabling plants at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.  That could provide information about the nation’s nuclear activities.  “We’re breaking new ground here,” he said.  “This hasn’t been done before.”

Pyongyang indicated Friday that it was slowing the pace of work at Yongbyon because other nations have not met their obligations under the denuclearization agreement.  If the process is completed, North Korea would receive 1 million tons of fuel or equivalent assistance, along with security and diplomatic benefits.  To date it has received 150,000 tons of oil and 5,010 tons of steel to be used to renovate deteriorating power facilities (Choe/Myers, New York Times, Jan. 5).

The standoff over the nuclear declaration, focused largely on whether it includes a suspected uranium enrichment program, could represent a crucial point in the disarmament effort, experts told Agence France-Presse.

“Efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear facilities are now at a crossroads due to a dispute over a suspected uranium enrichment program,” said Paik Hak-soon, of the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

“Both North Korea and the United States are in a dilemma over how to establish the pattern of action,” he added, saying that Pyongyang would seek “strong incentives” for giving up its nuclear programs.

“The statement means that North Korea will not take further action until the United States and other parties reciprocate.  They think they have done enough,” Paik said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Jan. 5).

Meanwhile, U.S. think tanks said that China is prepared to secure North Korean nuclear weapons should the Stalinist state become unstable, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Contingency plans developed in Beijing focus on providing humanitarian care for refugees, peacekeeping, and ensuring the security of nuclear weapons and fissile material, according to the report from the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“If deemed necessary, [People’s Liberation Army] troops would be dispatched into North Korea,” states the report, based on talks with Chinese specialists on North Korea.

“Some Chinese experts say explicitly that they favor holding a discussion of stability in North Korea in official channels with the United States, including possible joint responses in support of common objectives, such as securing nuclear weapons and fissile material,” the report says.

There is concern among some Chinese experts that Washington might ultimately decide that North Korea could retain some nuclear weapons, the report states.  They worry that such a move would undermine relations between Pyongyang and Beijing, which has insisted that its neighbor give up such weapons.

“Chinese analysts vividly recall that Washington pressed Beijing to impose great pressure on India after its nuclear test in 1998, but then reversed its position and condoned India’s nuclear program, leaving China hanging out to dry,” the report says (Yonhap News Agency, Jan. 6).

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