U.S., allies seek one policy on N. Korea
By Krishnadev Calamur
UPI Deputy International Editor
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- U.S., South Korean and Japanese diplomats will meet this week in Washington to talk about North Korea's nuclear program and forge a common policy ahead of planned six-way talks with Pyongyang.
Mitoji Yabunaka, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau, and Lee Soo-hyuck, South Korea's deputy foreign minister, are to meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly Thursday.
"We are going to discuss strategy and try and craft a common approach," a U.S. State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told United Press International.
The talks are a prelude to negotiations with North Korea -- which would also involve China and Russia -- in Beijing to persuade the world's only Stalinist state to give up its nuclear program. The last round of talks were in August, but proved inconclusive. Pyongyang has signaled its willingness to resume negotiations but no date has yet been set though they may be held this month.
The trouble began last year when the United States said Pyongyang was violating a 1994 pact with Washington and had acknowledged pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Indeed, the CIA believes North Korea possesses one or two nuclear weapons.
Washington wants Pyongyang to first end its nuclear program and agree to verification in exchange for multilateral security guarantees. North Korea says it will give up its program if Washington gives it a bilateral guarantee and normal diplomatic relations, including an exchange of ambassadors and foreign aid.
Some analysts say, however, a second round of talks in Beijing are likely to have limited impact.
"The basic problems remain," Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, told UPI. "... the U.S. has shown no signs of making concessions on these issues."
Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the centrist Center for Strategic and International Studies, told UPI, the United States needed to show more flexibility with the North.
"The Americans will have to phase their proposals," he said. "Right now the North Koreans are being asked to do a lot up front for very little in return."
It is also unclear why North Korea, which has been hit by famine and is in economic doldrums, would give up its nuclear program or weapons, ostensibly its only bargaining chip.
"North Korea has seen how the U.S. treats non-nuclear adversaries such as Serbia," Carpenter said. "It has also seen how nuclear countries like India and Pakistan are treated by the U.S. and its allies. (It) believes maintaining a small (nuclear) deterrent will get it respect."
The State Department official said, however, Pyongyang's future was in its hands.
"There is the question of what they're willing to give up in exchange for the kinds of things they really need to move their economy forward," he said.
Wit cautioned, however, even if Pyongyang were to agree to abandon its nuclear program, it would likely take "a number years to implement." He also said Pyongyang may agree only to give up part of its program.
"The fact is at some point the U.S. is going to make some serious decisions," he said. "The North Koreans may offer to give up very significant parts of their program while keeping others in reserve."
In advance of the planned six-way talks, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity across the world to coordinate their positions.
In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov and Pak Ui-chun, North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Tuesday discussed "the prospects for holding a second round of the six-party talks," the semi-official ITAR-TASS news agency said. On Monday, Losyukov met with Chung Tae-ik, Seoul's ambassador to Moscow to discuss the issue. Last week, he was in Washington to meet with Kelly.
"Deputy Foreign Minister Losyukov explained his visit to the United States and we've discussed ways to proceed with the six-party talks in a smooth manner," Chung told Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine talks were the only way to end the conflict.
"To peacefully resolve the Korean nuclear problem, first all the relevant parties must sit down and continue peace talks," he said. "...This is the only correct choice."
In Pyongyang, the government last week accused the United States of 150 cases of "aerial espionage" in November and said Washington was not serious about resolving the nuclear dispute.
"This plainly shows that although on the surface, the U.S. imperialist warmongers are babbling about the so-called resolution of the issue through talks, they are only aiming at an opportunity to militarily crush our republic by still clinging onto the anachronistic hostile policy toward the DPRK behind the scenes," the North said on its official Central Broadcasting Station radio.
The U.S. position is likely, in part, to be affected by what its Asian partners in the talks see as their own security concerns. Despite a recent thaw in relations between South Korea and the North, the two states are technically in a state of war. Seoul has urged restraint in dealing with the North. Recent opinion polls in the country suggest many have an unfavorable view of how Washington is handling the issue.
"The bottom line for South Korea is that they want to get something positive from the U.S.," Wit said.
Carpenter said though Seoul's political and security concerns were important to Washington, Beijing's view was seen as more significant.
"South Korea has an impact (on the U.S. position), but China's views carry more weight," he said. "The U.S. regards China as the crucial player. ... If the Bush administration decides to stop pursuing a diplomatic solution ... then South Korea's calls for restraints will have little effect." |
