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North Korea Nuclear Talks Resume in Beijing
Negotiators from six nations today resumed talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 12). “They have started talking,” a Japanese official said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 13). North Korea yesterday reiterated its claim to a right to nuclear energy development, Reuters reported. “This right is neither awarded nor needs to be approved by others,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said as he departed for Beijing. “We have this right, and the more important thing is that we should use this right,” he was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying. Pyongyang is not likely to compromise on the nuclear energy matter, said one expert. “I don’t see them budging on this peaceful use issue. It was clever on their part,” said Daniel Pinkston, an expert at the Monterey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy to the negotiations, said little progress had been made since the previous session. “If I were optimistic or pessimistic it really wouldn’t make much difference. The fact is, we have to talk to them and see where we are,” Hill said (Ueno/Kim, Reuters, Sept. 13). Hill also played down North Korea’s insistence that it be allowed to keep a nuclear energy program, Reuters reported. “One should not assume that the outstanding problems all have to do with the issue of so-called peaceful use or civilian use,” he said (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters, Sept. 12). Kenichiro Sasae, Japan’s chief negotiator, said the outcome of the talks hinged on North Korea’s willingness to dismantle its nuclear programs. “Whether the talks will succeed or fail hinges on whether North Korea can actually show its strategic decision to abandon all of its nuclear weapons and other nuclear programs,” he said (Ueno/Kim, Reuters). Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington and possibly Tokyo would consider establishing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang if it gave up its nuclear weapons program, Agence France-Presse reported today. “There is a lot on the table for the North Koreans if they choose to take it,” Rice told the New York Times editorial board yesterday. “I think that they can expect to have, if they are prepared to make the strategic choice to give up their nuclear weapon, give up their nuclear programs, they have a road toward normalization of relations with the United States and possibly with Japan if they can fix the abduction problem,” she said, referring to a dispute over the Cold War-era abduction of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 13).
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