North Korea, US Still at Odds Over Use of Nuclear Energy – South Korean Report

Excerpt from report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Beijing, 7 August: China announced Sunday [7 August] that the six- nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme will resume after a three-week recess. The talks will be restarted in the week starting 29 August, China’s top envoy to the talks, Wu Dawei, said in a chairman’s statement released after a final plenary session ended in Beijing Sunday morning. [passage omitted]

However, North Korea said that an accord on its nuclear weapons programme would not be possible unless the United States changes its policy towards it. Pyongyang’s chief envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, said the US policy shift is a “key” to resolving the nuclear standoff and called on the United States to remove the factor which forced the communist country to develop nuclear weapons.

The North, which fears that it could come under a US attack, claimed that its nuclear programme is for self-defence but vowed to abandon the programme if the US removes its nuclear threat against it and builds confidence with it.

“Our dialogue partner is asking us to give up the right to peaceful nuclear activities. During this round of talks I had expected the United States to accept our demand but the United States did not make such a decision,” Kim said in a press conference at the North’s embassy in Beijing.

“The process for the success of future talks relies on a political will by participating countries… [ellipsis as carried] During the recess I hope the United States will change its policy that it would not allow us any nuclear activities,” he said.

The decision by the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia came after last-minute efforts by their chief delegates to resuscitate the deadlocked talks fell apart. [passage omitted]

North Korea and the United States, the main antagonists in the nuclear talks, remained at odds over whether the communist country should retain the right to peaceful nuclear activities and the scope of concessions it will be awarded in return for scrapping its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea said it can’t accept a demand for it to even give up its civilian nuclear programme and expressed discontent with the suggested matching rewards to be given in exchange for its planned decision to abandon its nuclear arms programme.

The United States opposes North Korea keeping even civilian nuclear facilities out of proliferation concerns. US officials are also critical of the North’s past history of breaching international nuclear accords, including one in 1994. [passage omitted]

South Korea’s top negotiator, Song Min-soon, said the upcoming nuclear talks will tackle peaceful nuclear activities and outside rewards for the North’s dismantlement. “We will use the recess as a preparation period to ensure that specific progress is made when the talks are resumed by holding thorough communications during the recess,” Song told reporters.

Complicating the talks, North Korea has also demanded the revival of the 4.6bn dollar project to build two light-water reactors, which has been mothballed since 2003 pending resolution of the nuclear tension.

But the US chief negotiator, Christopher Hill, made it clear that the issue is not on the US table.

“The issue came down to the DPRK. They not only want the right to use nuclear energy, but the right to use light-water reactors. That is simply not on our table,” Hill told reporters, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

South Korea hopes that the reactor project will be replaced by its offer to provide the North with 2m kW of electricity starting in 2008 if the communist country renounces its nuclear ambitions. Energy-starved North Korea said it was considering the South Korean proposal.

The North said it will rejoin the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency if the six-nation talks are successful. [passage omitted]