Time Limited on Nuclear Deal, South Korea Says

With the U.S. presidential election looming, there must be progress now in the faltering effort to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear sector, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Saturday (see GSN, March 20).

“Looking at the schedule of U.S. domestic politics, (Washington) would virtually take its hands off (the issue) once the vacation season starts in early August,” Yu said during a trip to China, the Associated Press reported.

“We have to start negotiations anew from scratch if a new administration comes in the United States.  Therefore, we have to make progress in the declaration issue so as to prepare momentum” for additional talks, he said.

North Korea agreed last year to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for energy, diplomatic and security benefits from the other nations in the six-party talks — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.  The process has faltered this year amid U.S. claims that Pyongyang has yet to provide a full accounting of its atomic activities and North Korean complaints about the pace of rewards (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 22).

Yu is scheduled to meet Wednesday in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The two ministers will discuss various pending issues, including North Korea’s nuclear problem, ahead of the summit between Presidents Lee Myung-bak and George W. Bush,” according to a South Korean Foreign Ministry official (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 24).

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