North Korea Nuclear Negotiations See No Progress After Two Days, Chief U.S. Envoy Says

Little headway was made today toward resolving the international dispute over North Korea’s nuclear activities, said the top U.S. envoy to six-nation talks in Beijing (see GSN, Sept. 13).

During today’s session, the Pyongyang delegation demanded North Korea be provided with a light-water nuclear energy reactor in exchange for relinquishing its atomic weapons program, said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

“I must say it was a meeting in which we did not make a lot of progress,” Hill said. “Neither the United States or any other participant is prepared to fund a light-water reactor.”

“There are not too many other ways I know how to say ‘no,’” he said in reference to this afternoon’s meeting.

China, Russia and South Korea have all expressed support for North Korea’s theoretical right to a civilian nuclear program, while Japan and the United States have said that Pyongyang’s past international treaty violations made possession of any such program a matter of concern.

“When (the North Koreans) complete the dismantlement of their nuclear weapons and nuclear programs, they can enjoy, they can have the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy,” top South Korean nuclear negotiator Song Min-soon said today.

Hill, however, has attempted to prevent the controversial issue from taking center stage at the negotiations.

“I want to make sure that on the fundamental issues that confront us in this draft, namely the denuclearization and ridding the Korean Peninsula of these terrible weapons ... that we can achieve agreement on that,” he said. “When we do that we can look at some of these other questions.”

Hill said officials planned to complete this round of talks “in a few days” in order to break in time for the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok, this weekend.

Meanwhile in Pyongyang, North and South Korean officials held separate high-level talks, AP reported.

Elsewhere, Chinese President Hu Jintao told U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday in New York that Beijing was prepared to “step up” its efforts at the six-nation talks (Associated Press/USA Today, Sept. 14).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.