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N.Korea hardens stance ahead of nuclear talks

Posted on: Sunday, 11 September 2005, 19:40 CDT

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) - Six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs open on Tuesday in Beijing with Pyongyang having hardened its stance on its right to have a civilian program -- a key sticking point in the discussions.

The talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States headed into a recess on August 7 after failing to settle even on a statement of principles during 13 days of discussions in Beijing.

Since then, North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric on what it says is its inherent right to a peaceful nuclear program and delayed the original late-August date for restarting the talks.

Officials from the other parties say a peaceful nuclear program should be considered, if at all, after North Korea builds up trust with the international community. For now, they fear such a project could be misused to make atomic weapons.

The other parties to the talks say the top priority -- and the key to earning trust -- is to have North Korea dismantle its nuclear weapons programs completely, verifiably and permanently. The North says it already has nuclear weapons.

"The peaceful use (of nuclear programs) is not the biggest issue at the talks. The biggest issue is whether North Korea will clearly commit itself to abandoning its nuclear weapons programs and other nuclear programs completely," said a Japanese delegate to the six-party talks.

North Korea sees things differently.

It has said it will press ahead with plans for a civilian nuclear program, and U.S. objections could harm the talks, which this time are set to last a week but could continue longer.

"Nobody should expect the DPRK to waive its right to peaceful nuclear activity," an official commentary said. The North's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

A senior South Korean official familiar with the talks said behind the scenes North Korea had been pressing to restart a suspended project to supply it with relatively proliferation-resistant light-water reactors.

PROGRESS AND TRUST?

An international consortium was to supply those reactors as part of a 1994 deal under which North Korea was to freeze its nuclear weapons programs in return for fuel assistance that would later be replaced by power from the reactors.

Washington says the North broke the deal by pursuing a secret nuclear weapons plan using highly enriched uranium.

The South Korean official, who asked not to be named, said the United States would not agree to dusting off the 1994 light-water reactor deal nor striking a new agreement under which the North gets international help to build light-water reactors.

A separate senior South Korean official said the parties had laid most of their cards on the table and the discussions had made strides since they began in August 2003.

"We are not at the stage of talking about dismantlement versus corresponding measures any more. We're much deeper into the issues," he said.

A senior Russian diplomat told Interfax news agency the six parties "have never been so close" to reaching a deal.

Yet that optimism is not universal, and analysts note failure to make progress at this set of talks could lead to pressure to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council.

U.S. officials have expressed concern about the North having any sort of nuclear program, saying the country could use a civilian program to develop nuclear weapons.

North Korea declared in February it had nuclear weapons. It left the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2003.

The top U.S. negotiator to the talks said North Korea, which battles energy shortages, should look to a sweetener from South Korea to supply it with electricity about equal to its own output after it dismantles its nuclear weapons programs.

"Our position has been very clear on this. North Korea needs to get out of the nuclear business," Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for Asia and Pacific Affairs, told a briefing in Washington on Friday.

"In some two-and-a-half to three years, they could have new electricity being generated into towns and villages and cities in the DPRK," he said of the proposal from South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a briefing last week that Beijing -- host of all the talks so far -- hoped the parties would seize the opportunity to reach a deal.

(With additional reporting by Teruaki Ueno in Tokyo and Jack Kim in Seoul)

Source: REUTERS

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