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Washington Denies Delaying North Korea Talks
The United States yesterday denied reports it is delaying talks on the North Korean nuclear standoff, and a U.S. State Department spokesman blamed Pyongyang for the holdup (see GSN, Dec. 4). “We are ready to go. North Korea has not yet agreed to a date,” said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. “It’s not that we’re standing in the way. We’re ready to talk,” he added. A senior U.S. official said that Pyongyang is attempting to gain U.S. concessions before the talks begin. “I’m not saying that there won’t be something before the talks, but you can’t negotiate the round before the round,” the official said. “You have to leave some things for the talks,” the official added (Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 5). A former State Department expert on North Korea said earlier this year, however, that difficult issues must be ironed out before talks begin. The logistics of formal negotiations, including North Korean formal declarations, the need for translations and the large number of delegates at the talks, reduce the opportunity for tangible diplomatic progress, according to Jack Pritchard, who served as the U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea. “Does that mean that we will resolve the problem bilaterally? No … but we will lay the groundwork,” he said. Pritchard dismissed previous talks as “drive-by meetings” (see GSN, Sept. 8; David McGlinchey, Global Security Newswire, Dec. 4). China is urging Washington to provide Pyongyang with a nonaggression guarantee after it renounces nuclear weapons and that demand could delay talks, a Bush administration official said yesterday. The official gave credit to China for attempting to push North Korea toward a settlement (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Dec. 4). U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, meanwhile, said that negotiations between allies before the talks is proving to be as difficult as “herding cats” (Collinson, Agence France-Presse).
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