ID :
10966
Fri, 06/27/2008 - 20:31
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https://oananews.org//node/10966
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N. Korea hands in declaration on nuclear programs
BEIJING, June 26 Kyodo - North Korea on Thursday finally submitted its long-delayed declaration giving details of its nuclear programs, the Chinese government confirmed.
The document was handed in to the Chinese Foreign Ministry by North Korean Ambassador to China Choe Jin Su, a statement on the Foreign Ministry website said.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei earlier read out a brief statement to reporters saying that all sides in the six-party talks have agreed that the document will now be checked for accuracy and they have set out the principles on how to verify its contents.
Wu gave no details about what was included in the declaration, but U.S. chief negotiator in the six-party talks Christopher Hill said earlier this week that it will list North Korea's nuclear facilities and materials but give no details about its nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she hoped that when the declaration is checked it will reveal how much radioactive plutonium North Korea has produced.
''If we can verifiably determine the amount of plutonium that has been made, we then have an upper hand in understanding what may have happened in terms of weaponization,'' she said, according to a transcript of her remarks posted on the State Department website.
''This is a natural step on the way to dealing verifiably with the devices or weapons themselves.''
The statement read by Wu said that after the declaration is submitted, the United States will implement its obligations to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and to remove references to the country in the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act.
U.S. President George W. Bush said in a televised address his government is already moving to lift those sanctions on the North.
Wu, in his statement in Beijing, added, ''The parties reaffirm the September 18, 2005 joint statement goal to realize verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We believe the above mentioned developments will be conducive to implementing the second phase actions in a comprehensive and balanced manner.''
North Korea was due to have submitted the declaration at end of last year as part of a deal to dismantle its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid and diplomatic concessions.
But Pyongyang failed to hand in an acceptable document on time because of a dispute over what should be included in it.
U.S. envoy Hill said earlier this week that the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons will be tackled in the next phase of the six-party talks.
Details of North Korea's weapons program are veiled in secrecy, but in October 2006, the country announced it had successfully carried out its first test of a nuclear bomb.
Japan has previously expressed concern about the U.S. commitment to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terror.
Tokyo has said it should be used as a bargaining tool to put pressure on Pyongyang to give more details about the Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Korea says all those seized are either dead or have returned to Japan, but it has recently promised to reinvestigate the matter.
Bush assured Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during a telephone conversation Wednesday that the United States will not forget the abduction issue and will continue to press Pyongyang.
Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and Russia are represented in the six-party talks, along with North Korea, which aim to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
The document was handed in to the Chinese Foreign Ministry by North Korean Ambassador to China Choe Jin Su, a statement on the Foreign Ministry website said.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei earlier read out a brief statement to reporters saying that all sides in the six-party talks have agreed that the document will now be checked for accuracy and they have set out the principles on how to verify its contents.
Wu gave no details about what was included in the declaration, but U.S. chief negotiator in the six-party talks Christopher Hill said earlier this week that it will list North Korea's nuclear facilities and materials but give no details about its nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she hoped that when the declaration is checked it will reveal how much radioactive plutonium North Korea has produced.
''If we can verifiably determine the amount of plutonium that has been made, we then have an upper hand in understanding what may have happened in terms of weaponization,'' she said, according to a transcript of her remarks posted on the State Department website.
''This is a natural step on the way to dealing verifiably with the devices or weapons themselves.''
The statement read by Wu said that after the declaration is submitted, the United States will implement its obligations to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and to remove references to the country in the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act.
U.S. President George W. Bush said in a televised address his government is already moving to lift those sanctions on the North.
Wu, in his statement in Beijing, added, ''The parties reaffirm the September 18, 2005 joint statement goal to realize verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We believe the above mentioned developments will be conducive to implementing the second phase actions in a comprehensive and balanced manner.''
North Korea was due to have submitted the declaration at end of last year as part of a deal to dismantle its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid and diplomatic concessions.
But Pyongyang failed to hand in an acceptable document on time because of a dispute over what should be included in it.
U.S. envoy Hill said earlier this week that the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons will be tackled in the next phase of the six-party talks.
Details of North Korea's weapons program are veiled in secrecy, but in October 2006, the country announced it had successfully carried out its first test of a nuclear bomb.
Japan has previously expressed concern about the U.S. commitment to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terror.
Tokyo has said it should be used as a bargaining tool to put pressure on Pyongyang to give more details about the Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Korea says all those seized are either dead or have returned to Japan, but it has recently promised to reinvestigate the matter.
Bush assured Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during a telephone conversation Wednesday that the United States will not forget the abduction issue and will continue to press Pyongyang.
Japan, the United States, China, South Korea and Russia are represented in the six-party talks, along with North Korea, which aim to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
