North Korea Nuclear Talks Could Resume Sept. 2

Multilateral talks on North Korea’s nuclear program could resume on Sept. 2, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 24).

“I think there will be more progress than before,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Beijing’s top envoy to the six-nation talks, reportedly told Mizuho Fukushima, the leader of Japan’s Social Democratic Party, during a visit to Tokyo.

However, a North Korean diplomatic source in Beijing questioned whether the talks would actually begin again next week, according to Interfax.

A senior South Korean official, meanwhile, expressed optimism yesterday about the likelihood of a disarmament deal, lauding Washington’s latest offer.

“There has never been a more positive signal in 50 years than what the United States has offered the North,” said Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik.

“The United States has promised normalization of relations in return for North Korea giving up all its nuclear programs. I think there will be some good result soon,” he said (Elaine Lies, Reuters, Aug. 25).

North Korean and U.S. officials met Tuesday in New York to prepare for the next round of talks, Agence France-Presse reported.

U.S. diplomat Joseph DeTrani had “a positive meeting” with the North Korean delegation, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 24).

Elsewhere, Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf said former top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan might have sold uranium hexafluoride to Pyongyang, the New York Times reported.

Musharraf, though, said “tons and tons” of the material and thousands of centrifuges would be needed to make weapon-grade uranium.

Musharraf reiterated that Islamabad had not known of Khan’s nuclear exports.

Some U.S. experts, however, said it was extremely unlikely that Pakistani military officials would not have noticed the technology shipments.

“I think it would be absolutely shocking that they not have some idea,” said George Perkovich, a nonproliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “There were planes flying back and forth.”

The Pakistani leader also denied allegations that Islamabad acquired North Korean long-range missile technology in the 1990s in exchange for assisting Pyongyang with its nuclear program.

Pakistan is sharing “whatever Dr. A. Q. Khan has told us” with Western countries, Musharraf added (Masood/Rohde, New York Times, Aug. 25).

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