SEOUL, South Korea — As U.S.-South Korean war games continued today, the United States, Japan and South Korea agreed to talks in Washington about North Korea’s attack on a South Korean island and the North’s nuclear weapons programs.
Although North Korean rhetoric remained high — the country warned the military drills could trigger “full-blown war” — a senior North Korean official left Pyongyang for talks with leaders in the country’s only major ally, China.
The visit of Choe Thae-Bok, the chairman of North Korea’s parliament, to Beijing, combined with the planned Washington meeting, raised hopes that a diplomatic solution could be found, even after the U.S. and its allies earlier had rejected China’s suggestion to renew talks with the North.
Even as Choe traveled to Beijing, however, the North reminded the world it was forging ahead with its nuclear efforts. Pyongyang said today that it’s operating a modern uranium enrichment plant equipped with thousands of centrifuges.
The main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial that the North is also building light-water reactors. The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the uranium enrichment is entirely for peaceful purposes.
The North first revealed the program in early November to a visiting American scientist. A light-water nuclear power reactor is ostensibly for civilian energy purposes, but it gives the North a reason to enrich uranium. Uranium enrichment would give the North a second way to make nuclear bombs, in addition to its known plutonium-based program.
North Korea has pushed for renewed international talks on receiving much-needed aid in return for commitments to dismantle nuclear programs, and its recent aggression could reflect frustration that those talks remain stalled.
The North unleashed an artillery barrage on a South Korean island Nov. 23 that hit civilian areas, marking a new level of hostility along the country’s contested maritime border. The attack killed two civilians and two marines.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak took responsibility Monday for failing to protect his citizens and pledged a tough response if the North carries out any further attacks.
Foreign ministers from South Korea, the United States and Japan are to meet in Washington in early December to discuss the shelling and North Korea’s nuclear program, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.
Despite the diplomacy, tension in the region remained high.
The North’s propaganda machine issued a warning today that the South Korea-U.S. drills, involving a nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier, could trigger a “full-blown war” on the peninsula.
“Our republic has a war deterrent that can annihilate any aggressor at once,” Pyongyang’s government-run Minju Joson said in a commentary.
