• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

North Korea Blames US for Stalemate at Six-Way Talks

Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Excerpt from report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Beijing, 15 September: North Korea said Thursday [15 September] that it will never give up its demand for light-water reactor, calling it a key to settlement of the ongoing tension over its nuclear programme.

"In building trust on the Korean Peninsula, the provision of light-water reactor forms its very basis," Hyun Hak-bong, a North Korean delegation member, told reporters.

Hyun said North Korea is prepared to scrap its graphite- moderated nuclear reactors in operation or under construction only after the United States promises to build an unspecified number of light-water reactors for it.

Hyun accused the United States of rejecting the North's demand which he described as a major "political" concession.

The North's demand for light-water reactor as part of its right to "peaceful nuclear activities" is a major stumbling block in the six-nation talks which re-opened in Beijing on Tuesday after a five- week recess.

The chief US envoy, Christopher Hill, met his North Korean counterpart for the second time in as many days on Thursday only to find that their positions could not be reconciled.

Hill earlier had said the United State would never accept or even consider the North's demand for light-water reactor, calling it a "nonstarter." [Passage omitted]

After a 90-minute meeting at China's state guesthouse Diaoyutai, the chief delegates from the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia agreed to meet again on Friday to assess the overall situation. [Passage omitted]

Hyun said North Korea still remains committed to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and can be flexible in working out details if its demand for light-water reactor is accepted.

"The basic stumbling block is an issue related to light-water reactors," Hyun said, reading from a prepared Korean-language statement. He declined to accept questions from an army of reporters.

"Our position is that we can abandon our graphite-moderated nuclear reactors and instead should get light-water reactors," he said. "We need what is real and concrete, not a vague right to peaceful use of nuclear energy that is high in the empty sky."

South Korea's chief negotiator, Song Min-soon, said that "the window of opportunity is open for North Korea to have a right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, including light-water reactor."

Song declined to elaborate but South Korea's official position has been that the North should be given the right to peaceful nuclear activities if it rejoins the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and receives inspections of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. [Passage omitted]

Currently, North Korea has a 5-megawatt experimental nuclear reactor in operation and is building two larger ones with a rated capacity of 50 megawatts and 200 megawatts, respectively.

The North's reactors are all Soviet-designed graphite-moderated, a type that scientists say produces greater amounts of weapons- grade plutonium, the key material to make atomic bombs.

North Korea's nuclear capability has not been independently verified but the country said in February that it had nuclear weapons and has since taken steps to glean more weapons-grade plutonium.

In a meeting with reporters earlier in the day, Hill rejected the North's demand for light-water reactor, saying that no party in the talks would be willing to foot the huge bill.

"Nobody is prepared to fund a light-water reactor," Hill said. [Passage omitted]

The US-designed light-water reactor is tamperproof but costly. A light-water reactor would need almost a decade to complete and cost between 2bn dollars and 3bn dollars.

Hill advised North Korea to focus on what's already on the table, saying that the communist country has already been assured of security guarantees and access to international financial institutions as well as a "very serious" energy package.

The energy package "would really in a very practical way address very difficult electrical problems" in North Korea," Hill said, referring to South Korea's offer of massive electricity aid to its communist neighbour.

"If their concern is electricity, there is a very generous electricity package," Hill said. "DPRK has engaged in nuclear energy now for some 25 years. They have not succeeded in turning it into electricity. They have succeeded in turning it into plutonium." [Passage omitted]

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

More News in this Category