Global Security Newswire

North Korea's No. 2 nuclear negotiator was in Beijing today for talks with Chinese officials, ahead of his visit to the United States next week, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 20).

Ri Gun said yesterday that he "soon" would travel to the United States. He will first spend the next several days in the Chinese capital, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Washington is weighing an offer from Pyongyang for direct talks on the North's nuclear weapons program. A U.S. official said there is a good chance Ri would address the years-old nuclear standoff with a high-level U.S. envoy during his visit to San Diego and New York City.

The Obama administration has stated that it would only agree to bilateral negotiations as a means to return the North to the six-nation nuclear talks, which also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. The North has said it pursued a strategic weapons capability to defend itself against "U.S. nuclear threats" (Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press I/Google News, Oct. 20).

There are rumors that Washington's head nuclear envoy with Pyongyang, Sung Kim, would meet with Ri to discuss direct diplomacy between the longtime antagonists, AP reported (Jakes/Hyung, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Oct. 21).

There have not been any multilateral negotiations since December of last year. North Korea had been moving toward denuclearization, but the process stalled and then hit another roadblock last spring when the regime carried out its second nuclear test and conducted several missile launches. The U.N. Security Council subsequently strengthened sanctions against the North.

In Seoul, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today that a nuclear-armed North Korea would never be tolerable for Washington, Agence France-Presse reported.

"There should be no mistaking that we do not today, nor will we ever, accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons," Gates said, adding "the peril posed by the North Korean regime remains, and in many ways has become even more lethal and destabilizing."

Washington intends to work to safeguard local partners against any danger posed from the North, Gates said.

Washington is resolved "to providing extended deterrence using the full range of American might -- from the nuclear umbrella to conventional strike and missile defense capabilities," he said.

"At the outset I want our Korean allies to know that America will continue to stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, as a close friend and reliable partner," Gates said.

The defense secretary also spoke of his great concern with North Korean attempts to sell its nuclear and missile technology to other nations.

"I also think North Korea is a serious proliferation threat. Everything they make they seem to be willing to sell," Gates said (Dan De Luce, Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Oct. 21).

Meanwhile, an official in Seoul said that Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his South Korean counterpart came to an understanding today on the need to develop "strategic plans early to specify expanded U.S. deterrence" against nuclear attacks, AFP reported.

"The two sides assessed North Korean military threats such as its nuclear and missile programs and discussed ways to strengthen their allied defense posture," said the official (Agence France-Presse II, Oct. 21).