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U.S. Ambassador Questions North Korea’s Commitment to Ending Nuclear Weapons Program
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow yesterday questioned North Korea’s commitment to its September agreement to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 30). “We now face the even more formidable challenge of implementing these agreed principles,” he said at a meeting in Seoul sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce. “It remains to be seen whether North Korea is truly prepared to eliminate its nuclear program and to do so in a prompt and verifiable manner.” Vershbow also said that Washington questions whether light-water nuclear reactors are the best way to solve North Korea’s energy problems (Kwang-Tae Kim, Associated Press, Nov. 30). Pyongyang yesterday accused the United States of using a smear campaign to force the North to eliminate its nuclear program, Agence-France Presse reported. The alleged campaign presents “a stumbling block” in six-party talks, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “It arouses apprehension as to the fact that the U.S. will escalate its offensive to stifle the D.P.R.K. although the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is realized in the future,” the commentary said. The commentary accused the United States of pressuring countries involved in the talks to demand North Korea give up its weapons program. “The U.S. … is staging ceaseless anti-D.P.R.K. psychological operations of all sorts aimed at realizing a ‘regime change’ in it and forcing it to ‘scrap its nuclear program first’ behind the scene of dialogue. This is spawning serious problems. It is something unimaginable to discuss the issue of forcing the D.P.R.K. to ‘scrap its nuclear program first’ given that the U.S. offensive to pressurize the D.P.R.K. has gained in an unprecedented dimension,” the commentary said (Agence France-Presse/INQ7.net, Nov. 30). Meanwhile, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, Seoul’s chief negotiator in the nuclear talks, is scheduled to visit China this week to discuss how to advance negotiations, the Associated Press reported. Song is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei during his stay on Friday and Saturday, according to South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. The two negotiators are expected to “assess the current situation” and determine “ways to move the negotiations forward,” Ban said (Associated Press II, Nov. 30). Elsewhere, the United States and North Korea canceled a meeting between officials from Pyongyang and the U.S. Treasury Department because of a dispute over the word “bilateral,” the Washington Post reported. Some experts said the cancellation is an indication from the Bush administration that it would be less flexible diplomatically with Pyongyang. State Department officials rejected that assessment. North Korean officials at last month’s six-party talks complained about the Treasury Department’s actions against firms suspected of involvement in illegal activities on behalf of Pyongyang. North Korean Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called these moves “economic sanctions,” but Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill maintained the actions were unrelated to nuclear talks. Kim said Hill had agreed to have “bilateral contacts” to discuss the matter from Dec. 9 to 11 in New York. However, some U.S. officials thought the phrase implied normalization of relations between the two countries, and State Department officials said Hill would not attend the planned meeting. North Korea interpreted this as a withdrawal of the invitation and canceled the trip, according to the Post (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Dec. 1).
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