After 13 days of talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, negotiators from the six participating nations are taking a recess. Frankly, we’re encouraged that the talks haven’t collapsed completely. Negotiators have set the week of Aug. 29 to get back together, erasing suspicions that the talks would fall completely by the wayside.
America’s chief negotiator, Christopher Hill, has described the talks as “excruciating.” No surprise, given that the major sticking points are between the U.S. and North Korea. China, the host of the current round of negotiations in Beijing and North Korea’s biggest ally, has played a key role in keeping the talks going and in calling for a break after the group’s failure to secure an agreement following five draft reports. The participating nations, which also include South Korea, Russia and Japan, have promised North Korea lucrative financial aid and other benefits in exchange for disarming.
Among the sticking points is whether North Korea will be trusted to run nuclear programs for peaceful energy production. North Korea insists on resuming construction of two light-water reactors promised by the Clinton administration as part of a bigger U.S. aid package in 1994. The dispute was “one of the very important elements that led us to fail to come up with an agreement,” Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s chief negotiator, said over the weekend. “I had hoped that the U.S. would accept our reasonable request during these talks, but it seems the U.S. has not made that decision.”
Hill was quoted as saying, “We decided it was time to end it and go to recess, with the idea that (the North Korean delegation) can go back and think about what they’ve been told, which is, they’re not going to get a light-water reactor.”
The standoff began in 2002 when North Korea admitted enriching uranium. In February, North Korea said it had nuclear weapons. It also shut down its Yongbyon power reactor, triggering concern that it would use the spent plutonium fuel rods for weapons. Some analysts believe North Korea has stockpiled enough plutonium to build several weapons. Therein lie the concerns with regard to a light-water reactor.
Diplomats who observed the talks claim the atmosphere was good. North Korean officials, while scoffing at the proposals, did not walk away, as they have done in the past. We hope the current cooling-off period will give the leaders of North Korea an opportunity to ponder the benefits of an aid package in return for standing down on the nuclear option.
