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U.S., North Korean Officials Meet on Eve of Six-Party Talks
U.S. and North Korean negotiators met today, just one day ahead of a new round of six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 22). Individual meetings between Chinese, Japanese, North Korean, Russian, South Korean and U.S. officials took place in Beijing. South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, met yesterday and “agreed to come up with a framework to realize denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman (Bo-Mi Lim, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, July 25). Japan, South Korea and the United States are considering a two-stage plan that would include a second negotiation session, perhaps in September, Reuters reported. The session that begins tomorrow would be aimed at agreeing on a set of “final goals,” including Pyongyang relinquishing its nuclear weapons programs and addressing both its missile program and human rights issues. Providing security guarantees for North Korea would also be on the list, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted sources close to the talks as saying (Reuters, July 25). The three allies plan to offer a written security guarantee to North Korea and hold out the possibility of normalized relations with Tokyo and Washington, the Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday (Yonhap, July 23). Washington last month discussed the possibility of a liaison office in Pyongyang to normalize relations, the Kyodo news agency quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying. Such an offer was also mentioned in the 1994 Agreed Framework, according to Kyodo (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 24). Japan plans to offer energy aid to North Korea if Tokyo sees significant progress toward North Korean disarmament at this week’s talks, Kyodo reported. The move is likely to stir controversy, however, because lawmakers in both ruling and opposition parties in Japan believe Tokyo should hold out for resolution of the standoff over Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang during the Cold War, according to Kyodo. South Korea’s offer of 2 million kilowatts of electricity to Pyongyang is believed to rest on the assumption that other countries would provide fuel oil to Pyongyang until Seoul establishes the electricity supply (Kyodo/Japan Times, July 23). Japan will bring up the abduction issue during the talks but should not risk damaging the nuclear negotiations by doing so, said a former Japanese official. “I think Japan will bring up this issue,” Taku Yamasaki, former vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said yesterday. “But it depends on the circumstances. If we destroy these talks, we can’t resolve both these problems, the nuclear issue or the abductions” (Hans Greimel, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 24). Some experts said the negotiations will hinge on whether the parties can agree on the sequence of disarmament steps and rewards. “The question is sequencing,” said Bonnie Glaser, senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “What has to be done first? We have to see the political will on both sides.” “North Korea is worried that once the U.S. achieves denuclearization, it may not be interested in the peace treaty or the normalization process. They want to remind the United States the discussion of the peace treaty issue is an integral part of the denuclearization process,” said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute in South Korea. Others said normalization of North Korea-U.S. relations cannot be among the first steps because Washington remains unsure of Pyongyang’s promises to give up its nuclear arsenal. “The fundamental question is whether North Korea’s decision to return to the table is a strategic decision, that they are prepared to abandon their nuclear program. Or if it’s a tactical choice, to put off growing pressure and moves to the U.N. Security Council and seek as many inducements as possible,” said Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation (Ching-Ching Ni, Los Angeles Times, July 25). Other experts and diplomats said North Korea is unlikely to permanently renounce its nuclear weapons program, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “North Korea is unlikely to give up its main bargaining chip, the nuclear weapons program, only for aid,” said Laure Paquette, an expert in Northeast Asia at Lakehead University in Canada. “It has shown itself in the past unfortunately willing to let its people suffer rather than accept aid,” said Paquette. “I do not expect the Kim regime ever to completely give up its nuclear weapons capability,” said a Western diplomat. “Kim will happily continue to accept economic aid from South Korea, but he will not promise to end his nuclear weapons program without security assurances from the United States. In any case, Kim’s promises are worthless,” said the diplomat (Martin Parry, Agence France-Presse/Hindustan Times, July 24). Pyongyang has said it is ready to receive visits by senior U.S. officials to normalize relations, AFP reported. North Korean officials told their U.S. counterparts in New York between late June and early July that Pyongyang was prepared to receive U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Kyodo quoted diplomatic sources as saying. The U.S. officials told the North Korean envoys that senior officials from Pyongyang would also be received in Washington, according to AFP, but the North Korean delegation then expressed doubts about whether Washington was willing to issue the necessary visas (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, July 23).
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