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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (7824)	10/31/2006 10:50:44 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224729

Bush Victory:No Korea Decides to Return to Nuclear Talks By CHOE SANG-HUN, October 31, 2006 SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 31 — North Korea agreed today to return to the stalled six-nation talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons programs, ending an 11-month boycott, American, South Korean and Chinese officials said. The development raised hopes for an easing of the tensions created by North Korea’s Oct. 9 nuclear test. The agreement to resume the talks “soon” was reached during a three-way meeting in Beijing among chief nuclear negotiators from the United States, North Korea and China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement posted on its Web site. The chief American envoy to North Korea, Christopher Hill, told a news conference in Beijing that the talks could resume “in November or possibly December,” news services reported. Mr. Hill also said that the Pyongyang regime had reaffirmed its commitment to a preliminary agreement reached in the six-nation talks last year, shortly before the talks collapsed. He said that he expected “substantial progress” once the talks resume. But Mr. Hill emphasized that the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council after the nuclear test would remain in place, and he cautioned North Korea against conducting a second test. “I think it’s self-evident they should not engage in provocative behavior,” he said. The statement by the Chinese foreign ministry said that the agreement followed a discussion among Mr. Hill and Chinese and North Korean officials that was initiated by Beijing. The statement described that discussion as “a frank and deep exchange of views on continuing the six-party talks.” “The three parties agreed to carry out the six-party talks in the near future, at the six parties’ convenience,” it said. The agreement represents a small breakthrough for China, host to the six-nation talks, as well as for the United States, which has called for an unconditional return to the negotiating table by North Korea. But analysts cautioned against expecting quick progress, because the differences between Washington and Pyongyang remain wide. Still, the South Korean government, which has called for diplomacy to end the crisis, welcomed the announcement. “We hope that the six-party talks will resume soon, as agreed upon now, and that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be achieved,” said Choo Kyu Ho, spokesman of the South Korean Foreign Ministry. The brief Chinese statement did not clarify on what conditions, if any, North Korea had agreed to return to the talks, which also include South Korea, Japan and Russia. But the agreement came as the United Nations Security Council was working on a detailed plan for the financial and arms sanctions it decided to impose on the isolated Communist state following its nuclear test. North Korea also badly need foods assistance. South Korea curtailed its food aid to the North after the Pyongyang regime conducted a missile test in July, and international aid groups warn that the country may now face another famine unless it receives foreign assistance. After the nuclear test, countries like Australia and Japan ordered their financial institutions to block transactions by companies suspected of having links to North Korea’s weapons programs. The six-party talks began in 2003 with the aim of ending North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. In a session in September 2005, the talks produced a preliminary outline of economic benefits and security guarantees that the North would receive in return for ending its nuclear weapons programs. But the talks disintegrated at the next session in November, when North Korea protested a United States crackdown on North Korean bank accounts in Macau. Washington insisted that the crackdown was a law-enforcement effort aimed at money laundering and illicit trade. But North Korea saw it as evidence that the United States was trying to “stifle” or “topple” the Pyongyang regime, and has insisted that it would never return to six-nation talks until the financial sanctions were lifted. “After its nuclear test, North Korea believes that it can go back to the negotiating table and play a bigger game for bigger concessions from the United States,” said Nam Sung Wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University in Seoul. “By bowing to the Chinese and South Korean demands for a return to the talks, North Korea can also expect economic assistance to start flowing against from the two neighbors.”