Seoul to lobby peaceful nuclear program for North

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s top negotiator for
six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons
programs said on Wednesday he will try to persuade the other
five to let the North have a peaceful nuclear program.

Talks in Beijing this month broke off after 13 days without
agreement, but the United States, North and South Korea, Japan,
China and Russia are due to resume negotiations aimed at
hammering out the principles of a deal the week of Aug. 29.

One of the main stumbling blocks that prevented a joint
statement was North Korea’s insistence that it be allowed to
pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

“Our position is that North Korea should abandon its
nuclear program and then we will adjust differences (with other
countries) to pave the way for them to pursue a peaceful
nuclear program as a sovereign state,” Seoul’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Song Min-soon told SBS television network.

Energy-starved North Korea says it has the sovereign right
to develop peaceful nuclear power, which it says is vital to
meet its electricity needs.

U.S. officials fear North Korea could use a peaceful
nuclear program to help develop atomic weapons.

Analysts have also said that after decades of focusing all
of its atomic research toward developing nuclear weapons, it
was best to look at a North Korea demand for a peaceful nuclear
program with skepticism.

South Korean officials have previously said they could
support a peaceful program for North Korea only after it
abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons and agrees to abide by
the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the
International Atomic Energy Agency.

NO LIGHT WATER REACTOR DEMAND

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday
it would be difficult for North Korea to persuade other
countries at the talks that it could maintain a peaceful
nuclear program, given that it had withdrawn from the NPT and
expelled IAEA inspectors from its country.

Contrary to media reports that North Korea demanded
proliferation-resistant, light-water reactors at the Beijing
talks, Song said Pyongyang never made such A request but
demanded the right to use a nuclear program for peaceful
purposes, which could include light-water reactors.

Asked what he thinks about the Bush administration taking
possibly different stances on nuclear issues for North Korea
and Iran, Song said North Korea needed to build trust before it
could be allowed to have a peaceful program.

“Non-proliferation is the global standard but we have to
also consider regional factors. On top of that, what’s most
important is that North lacks trust. And I think President Bush
is viewing North Korea from a different angle because there is
a lack of trust.”

The U.S. negotiator, Christopher Hill, told reporters on
Tuesday in Washington that the North’s wish for a light-water
reactor was unacceptable because of U.S. fears it could switch
the facility from research to weapon-making, as he said they
had in the past.

The United States has proposed giving North Korea economic
incentives and security guarantees in exchange for its
dismantlement of nuclear programs.

Washington has also endorsed South Korea’s proposal for
energy aid for the North, which it says makes Pyongyang’s quest
for nuclear technology unnecessary.