North Korea Plays Down Denuclearization Delay

North Korea has attributed the faltering progress of its denuclearization agreement to “technical issues” rather than more serious concerns, South Korea’s top nuclear negotiator said today after meeting with his counterpart from Pyongyang (see GSN, Feb. 21).

“North Korea said it will do what it has to do, and this is not because they don’t have the willingness, nor do they call it a deadlocked situation,” Chun Young-woo said in Beijing.  “It is being delayed due to technical issues, not because it has some political purpose in it.”

Chun did not elaborate on those issues, the Associated Press reported.

North Korea last year agreed to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for energy, diplomatic and security concessions from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.  It halted operations at the Yongbyon nuclear complex and began disabling three key facilities.

However, Washington said Pyongyang missed the Dec. 31 deadline to provide a full accounting of its nuclear efforts.  The Stalinist state, frustrated by the pace at which it is receiving promised rewards, has also slowed the disablement process.

Chun reported that North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan said the regime is sticking with the 2007 nuclear agreement.  “We discussed about what to do next in the meeting.  North Korea said they are ready to participate in (a new round of) the six-party talks if the date is set,” he said (Associated Press/New York Times, Feb. 21).

Top U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill acknowledged today that significant work remains in pushing the deal to fruition but argued that much has already been done, Agence France-Presse reported.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I think it is important to remember all the work we have been able to accomplish,” he said in Tokyo.

“We’ll look at the work we were able to accomplish in the past and I think we can take from that some strength and some sense of optimism,” Hill added.

Hill was traveling in Asia ahead of a planned trip next week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  He met with Kim in Beijing, discussing the contents of the required declaration.

“Obviously we are having some difficulty right now in getting what we need, which is a complete and correct declaration,” Hill said (Kyoko Hasegawa, Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Feb. 21).

Analysts said they did not believe that Rice’s trip to Asia would produce a breakthrough on the negotiations, AFP reported.

There has apparently been no sign that North Korea is willing to provide information on its suspected uranium enrichment efforts or other details that Washington has demanded be included in the declaration, said Robert Einhorn, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  That means the Bush administration is not likely to push forward with its promises of rewards, including removing Pyongyang from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“If the U.S. and if Chris Hill hasn’t heard more than that privately, then it is hard to see at this stage how they’re going to reach any breakthroughs during the secretary’s visit,” Einhorn said (Lachlan Carmichael, Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Feb. 20).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.