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U.S. Won’t Use Language Demanded by North Korea, State Department Official Says
North Korea wants to resume six-nation talks on its nuclear program, a senior State Department official said yesterday, but Washington is unwilling to use specific language demanded by Pyongyang if it is to resume negotiations (see GSN, May 20). U.S. officials have declined to say they have no “hostile intent” for North Korea, or that they promise a “peaceful coexistence” with the communist nation, the Los Angeles Times reported. “We don’t want to be reduced to sort of a circus animal doing an act, being told to jump through various hoops at the behest of the North Koreans. We have told them really all they need to know” about U.S. policy, the official told the Times. In addition, Pyongyang announced in March that it would discuss only mutual nuclear disarmament with Washington. However, “we don’t have nuclear weapons on the [Korean] Peninsula, so it’s not clear, really, what they have in mind,” the official said (Sonni Efron, Los Angeles Times, June 14). Former Secretary of State Colin Powell today expressed optimism about an eventual negotiated settlement to the standoff, Reuters reported. “I believe the six-party talks will eventually bear fruit,” Powell said. “I am not concerned that North Korea will threaten or use their nuclear weapon. They’re not suicidal. They’re clever. The only thing they have is their nuclear weapons program. They will use it to get more in return,” he said. “We want to help them make a better life,” Powell added. “But we will not be blackmailed.” Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday in response to a question on the MSNBC program Hardball with Chris Matthews about whether she believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to be sane: “I don’t know. I’ve never met the man.” Analysts have noted that Pyongyang is sensitive to remarks about its leader (Reuters, June 14). China said today that another round of six-nation talks has still not been scheduled, the Associated Press reported. “We don’t have a specific time,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. “But all parties are working toward a restart of the talks” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 14). Elsewhere, Kim Suk, director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau, said incentives for Pyongyang resuming negotiations — alluded to after a summit Friday in Washington between U.S. and South Korean leaders — includes normalized U.S.-North Korean relations, Chungang Ilbo reported today. “If the North Korean nuclear issue is resolved based on Washington’s proposal at the third round of the six-party talks, the two countries will move towards normal relations,” said Kim (Chungang Ilbo/MonstersandCritics.com, June 14).
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