North Korea Reportedly Rejects US Nuclear Programme Proposal
Posted on: Friday, 5 August 2005, 12:04 CDT
Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo
Beijing, 5 August: North Korea has rejected a US proposal at the six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing that Pyongyang be allowed to conduct peaceful nuclear activities if it returns to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and accepts international inspections, negotiation sources said Friday [5 August].
The six-nations - North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - are making final efforts to work out a joint document aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
But major gaps remain, particularly between Washington and Pyongyang, over the question of whether North Korea should be allowed to maintain nuclear programmes for civilian use.
Chief US delegate to the multilateral talks Christopher Hill has said North Korea should not be allowed to maintain nuclear programmes for civilian use if it merely announces its intention to return to the NPT, the sources said.
He has said North Korea must also accept inspections under the International Atomic Energy Agency to be allowed to maintain the civilian nuclear activities, the sources said. Such inspections are obligatory for NPT members.
Pyongyang has shown a willingness to return to the NPT in exchange for benefits to be given by other parties to the six- nation talks, but has rejected such inspections, the sources said.
On Thursday, chief North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan said Pyongyang will not give up peaceful nuclear activities.
"We will carry out denuclearization, but will keep the right to conduct peaceful nuclear activities," he said.
The United States and Japan are calling on North Korea to abandon all its nuclear programmes, not just those for weapons but also those for civilian use. But North Korea says it should be allowed to keep the nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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