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North Korea Demands Rewards Before Disarming
North Korea today again rejected U.S. demands that it abandon its nuclear program before receiving rewards, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 1). Pyongyang’s government-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun said no progress in the talks could be made until the United States changes its “high-handed” position, according to AFP. “It is nonsensical for the U.S. to unilaterally demand the D.P.R.K. disarm itself though both have been in the hostile relationship and technically at war for more than a half century,” said Rodong, adding that North Korea “has neither opposed nor shunned the six-party talks.” “If the U.S. persists in demanding the D.P.R.K. dismantle its nuclear program first without honoring its commitments, this will get it nowhere,” the newspaper said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo News, July 5). North Korea also demanded that the United States retract its description of the country as an “outpost of tyranny,” the Associated Press reported Saturday. “We told them (the U.S.) to just withdraw the words ‘outpost of tyranny,” said Li Gun, North Korea’s director general of North American affairs Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, July 2). Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States have agreed to join their proposals for North Korea to give up its nuclear program in an effort to make the plan more attractive, Reuters reported Saturday. “We agreed that the next six-party talks, when they open, will gain momentum if we combine the proposals from the previous talks and South Korea's 'important proposal,’” the Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young as saying following a meeting last week with U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney. Details of their discussions were not disclosed (Oh Jung-hwa, Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 2). However, other South Korean officials played down reports of a combined offer, AFP reported. “The U.S. position has not really changed,” one official said. “I think it is still true that the United States wants an answer to its last offer before it makes another.” Seoul is optimistic that six-party talks will resume soon, according to AFP. “Hopeful prospects for the resumption of talks this month … are growing in the United States,” said South Korea’s North American affairs chief Kim Sook, who was in the United States for the talks (Charles Whelan, Agence France-Presse, July 4). South Korea’s optimism came as William Schneider, chairman of the Defense Science Board, told Japan’s Nihon Keizai newspaper that North Korea might have more nuclear weapons than originally thought, Arirang News reported today. Estimates that Pyongyang could have up to eight weapons leaves out some factors, Schneider said. Schneider said North Korea potentially obtained weapons or nuclear material from overseas and that nuclear tests are not necessary to indicate possession of a bomb. Pyongyang could use blueprints obtained on the nuclear black market to create a weapon without testing, according to Arirang (Arirang News/Chosun Ilbo, July 5). Elsewhere, a Japanese official warned yesterday that patience for North Korea’s return to six-party talks is running thin. “In some quarters there is a very optimistic view and they probably have their basis for that, but the Japanese government is neither extremely optimistic nor extremely pessimistic,” said Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura. “Soon, we will reach the limits of our patience. The passage of time helps North Korea's nuclear development, so time is running out for the option of waiting. We need to deal with this with a sense of urgency,” he added (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 4).
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