Looks like China is hot for a deal. Good!
China Puts North Korea Talks in Brighter Light
Unusual Briefing Suggests Beijing Is Eager to Keep Talks Between Washington, Pyongyang on Track
By John Pomfret and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 29, 2003; Page A20
BEIJING, April 28 -- After four days of negative commentary about talks here last week between North Korea, the United States and China, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official conducted an unusual briefing for 20 Western diplomats that left a far more positive picture of the meeting, diplomats said tonight.
The Chinese official suggested that North Korea offered last week to work out a deal with the United States that included dismantling its nuclear program if the United States would change its antagonistic attitude toward North Korea. North Korea also offered to suspend ballistic missile tests and halt missile exports, said the diplomats, who asked not to be identified.
While U.S. officials had previously disclosed the North Korea offer, they had characterized it in far more negative terms. According to U.S. officials, North Korea had said it would only give up its nuclear weapons and missiles after the United States fulfilled a long list of conditions, including full diplomatic relations with both the United States and Japan and completion of light-water nuclear reactors. As the United States met its obligations, North Korea offered only to announce its intention to give up its nuclear programs, officials said.
"It basically listed everything they have ever asked for," a senior State Department official said in Washington.
At the talks, U.S. officials have said, North Korea also asserted it possessed nuclear weapons and might conduct "a physical demonstration or transfer" the weapons. President Bush last week labeled the talks as "blackmail" and said he looked forward to hearing how the Chinese felt about being rebuffed by the North Koreans.
U.S. officials are now debating whether to proceed to another meeting with North Korea. But tonight's briefing suggested that China, demonstrating a newly assertive role in the issue, was eager to keep discussions between North Korea and the United States on track.
"The Chinese seemed to think this was a significant offer," said one diplomat who said he agreed with Beijing's views. "The briefing certainly gave us the impression that North Korea came to the table with a pretty significant proposal."
Diplomats said that while the briefing was not rare, it was unusual for China to give such a detailed account of the talks to almost two dozen diplomats from the European Union. One diplomat speculated that China gave such a detailed briefing to counter reports in the United States that the talks, the first between North Korea and the United States in six months, had been a failure.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, asked about the Chinese briefing in Washington, acknowledged that North Korea had made a proposal. "The North Koreans acknowledged a number of things that they were doing and, in effect, said these are now up for further discussion," Powell told reporters. "They did put forward a plan that would ultimately deal with their nuclear capability and their missile activities, but they, of course, expect something considerable in return."
U.S. officials said that while the North Korean proposal might offer some basis for further discussion, it was unacceptable in its current form. "We've made clear we're not going to pay for elimination of the nuclear weapons programs that never should have begun in the first place," State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said. "That remains our policy, a very clear policy that we've taken."
The North Koreans also told U.S. negotiators that nuclear inspectors would be allowed back into their country if the Bush administration -- which has labeled North Korea part of the "axis of evil" -- changed its "attitude" toward North Korea, one diplomat said. In exchange, diplomats said, North Korea was seeking a security assurance from the United States, moves toward diplomatic recognition and money.
The diplomats said North Korea believes it should be compensated for delay in the completion of light-water reactors under a 1994 pact in which Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear program.
Last week, U.S. officials leaked word that Li Gun, the senior North Korean at the talks, claimed North Korea has a nuclear arsenal.
But the Western diplomats today quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry official as saying that publicly Li made no such statements during talks with Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly.
Last week, U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that Li had made the remarks when he pulled Kelly aside during a break. At the time, Boucher, the State Department spokesman, refused to confirm the reports.
But today, after the Chinese remarks to the diplomats were publicized by news services, Boucher asserted that at the talks North Korea claimed to possess nuclear weapons. "They said they had nuclear weapons," Boucher said. "They said they were reprocessing [spent fuel rods]."
The diplomats quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry official as saying North Korea backed down from its previous insistence on bilateral talks with the United States and told Kelly it had no preference for any particular format for negotiations. But, according to the Reuters news agency, which also cited diplomats, North Korea warned of extraordinary measures if the United States played its "usual tricks."
Kessler reported from Washington. Correspondent Doug Struck in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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