BEIJING — North Korea agreed Saturday to finish dismantling its main atomic reactor by the end of October and allow international inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities in a deal that inched the tortuous negotiations forward.
The agreement, hashed out at another round of international talks for which China served as host, does not say how the denuclearization process would be verified, and it does not include plans for full disarmament. But it’s another step in the long process of getting the secretive communist regime to give up its nuclear program.
“We would like the protocol to be reached within 45 days and, secondly, to begin verification within 45 days,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after the meeting ended in Beijing. “We’re anticipating that, and we don’t see any obstacles.”
The end game, though, might not be as near as it seems. Observers say the Bush administration wants to highlight the positive because it is running out of time and eager to show results. The North Koreans know that and may have used it to extract more concessions and buy themselves more time until Americans elect a new president.
“This is progress,” said Joseph Cheng, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong. But North Korea “is a very tough negotiator. It is always trying to squeeze for more.”
Among the unresolved issues are how much of North Korea’s stockpile was disclosed last month, when it made its nuclear weapons declaration to the world and how much real access it is willing to give the inspectors. No details were given on the uranium-enrichment program that the U.S. thinks North Korea is running in addition to its plutonium one.
