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203398
Thu, 08/25/2011 - 07:15
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https://oananews.org//node/203398
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Kim Jong-il Says N. Korea Ready to Halt Nuke Tests If Six-party Talks Resume
NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 172 (August 25, 2011)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)
Kim Jong-il Says N. Korea Ready to Halt Nuke Tests If Six-party Talks Resume
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his intent to return to the long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs without preconditions and impose a moratorium on tests of weapons of mass destruction, a news report said on Aug. 24.
Kim, who began his visit to Russia on Aug. 20, made the conciliatory comment during his rare summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a military base on the outskirts of the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude.
Kim was quoted by Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova as saying that in the course of the nuclear talks, his country will be ready to solve the problem of imposing a moratorium on the tests and production of nuclear weapons, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Hours after the summit, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the two leaders "shared the view that the six-party talks should be resumed without any preconditions at an early date to implement the Sept. 19 joint statement on the principle of simultaneous action and thus accelerate the denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula."
The KCNA also reported "the talks discussed a series of agenda items on boosting economic and cooperative relations in various fields, including the issue of energy such as gas and the issue of linking railways, and the two sides reached a common understanding on them."
Russian reports said the two countries also agreed to set up a commission for gas transit to South Korea via North Korea, a lucrative project that could help ease tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
The development on Pyongyang's nuclear ambition represents the latest progress in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to coax the North to give up its nuclear weapons programs in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.
The moratorium, if put in place, means that the North would not carry out any further nuclear and missile tests that have long been a cause for concern in the region.
In Seoul, however, South Korean officials said that there was nothing new in Kim's reported comments, though they remain cautious as the government has yet to receive a debriefing from Russia.
"The results of the North Korea-Russia summit fell short of expectations of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. The North is required to dispel suspicion surrounding its uranium enrichment program, too, in order for the six-party talks to resume," said a government official in Seoul.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Kim Jong-il's reported promise to impose a moratorium on nuclear testing is "insufficient," as its uranium enrichment program remains a serious concern.
"Obviously, if in fact they are now willing to refrain from nuclear tests and missile launches, this would be welcome, but it would be insufficient," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.
She pointed out that Pyongyang disclosed its uranium enrichment facilities last November, a clear sign that the reclusive nation is seeking the second path to develop its nuclear arsenal.
In the Sept. 19, 2005 deal at the six-party talks, the North agreed to abandon all of its nuclear programs in exchange for political and economic incentives.
The socialist country has a track record of alternately using provocations and dialogue with South Korea, the United States and other regional powers to try to wrest concessions before backtracking on agreements and quitting the nuclear talks.
The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2009 and subsequently conducted its second nuclear test in defiance of international warnings. It also raised tensions by torpedoing a South Korean warship and shelling a South Korean border island last year.
Still, the North has repeatedly expressed its interest in rejoining the nuclear talks that involve South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. Last month, North Korea and the United States held rare high-level meetings in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks.
On economic cooperation, Russian President Medvedev said he agreed with Kim to set up a commission to supply Russia's natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest buyers of the fuel, via North Korea, ITAR-Tass reported.
North Korea "seeks to realize this project," Medvedev said, adding there were plans to build a 1,100-kilometer gas pipeline, according to the Russian news agency.
The project, if realized, could help ease tensions on the peninsula and bring an economic boon to the impoverished North. North Korea could expect to earn more than US$500 million a year in handling charges over the gas pipeline, according to South Korean analysts.
Meanwhile, Kim and Medvedev drafted approaches to settle North Korea's US$11 billion debt, ITAR-Tass said, citing Russian officials.
After the talks, Kim headed toward the east of Siberia, according to local sources.
North Korea watchers said that Kim's visit is aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two countries that have cooled since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Kim arrived in Russia over the weekend on his first trip there since 2002.
Kim's trip to Russia started on Aug. 20 when he arrived in the Russian Far East aboard a special train. Kim's train crossed the North Korean-Russian border early in the morning and stopped in the Russian border city of Khasan around 10 a.m.
North Korea's state-controlled media quickly reported Kim Jong-il's arrival in Russia's Amur Oblast region.
The confirmation of the visit is uncharacteristically fast for North Korean news outlets that in the past had imposed media blackouts on foreign visits with details of Kim's trips to places like China only being released when he was on his way home.
Kim visited the Russian Far East in 2002 after making a 24-day trip to Moscow and other Russian cities in July 2001.
This year, the reclusive leader traveled to China in May for the third visit to his country's closest ally in just over a year.
The KCNA added that Kim toured the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station in the Amur region and expressed hope such facilities will fuel economic growth and people's welfare in Russia's Far East.
Besides the news agency, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station and the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station all reported Kim's Russian visit as well as the response expressed by North Korean citizens.
Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant, the largest in Russia's Far East, fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy.
In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the power station to the Korean Peninsula. It has also proposed building a pipeline through the divided peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest natural gas consumers.
Earlier on Aug. 21, Kim's special train arrived in Khabarovsk, about 900 kilometers north of Khasan, at 4 a.m. without stopping in Vladivostok.
The North Korean leader traveled about 600 kilometers to Bureya by train before driving an additional 80 km to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant.
After touring the power station, Kim left for Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, for summit talks with Medvedev.
In another sign of improving health, Kim appears to be using his left arm, which was previously known to have been affected by his 2008 stroke.
Kim Ok, believed to be Kim's consort, is accompanying the leader on the trip. The former secretary known as Kim's fourth wife also traveled to China when the leader went there in May.
In the photo, the 47-year-old Kim Ok was seen assisting Kim Jong-il in signing a visitors' book at the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station, indicating the woman's virtual status as first lady.
Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, is not accompanying his father on the trip, though top military, economic and other officials, including Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju, were traveling with the North Korean leader, according to the KCNA dispatch.
In May, Kim Jong-un greeted his father in a North Korean border city after his father returned home from a trip to China. The junior Kim, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as North Korea's next leader.
According to the KCNA report, Kim's entourage also included Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces; Jang Song-thaek and Kim Yang-gon, both members of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of (North) Korea (WPK) Central Committee; Pak Pong-ju, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee; O Su-yong, chief secretary of the North Hamgyong Provincial Committee of the WPK; and Kim Kye-gwan, first- vice minister of Foreign Affairs.
For years, Russia has proposed building a pipeline through the divided Korean Peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest buyers of natural gas.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said this month that North Korea reacted "positively" to the natural-gas pipeline construction project. The North's reaction was conveyed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Kim during their bilateral talks on Aug. 8.
Moscow has also floated the idea of connecting its Trans-Siberian Railway with South Korea via North Korea, a proposal that would provide cheaper shipping routes for South Korean companies selling goods to Europe.
During the trip, North Korea's state media has given frequent reports. The North's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Aug. 22 carried a front-page article on Kim's visit to the Bureiskaya hydroelectric power plant. Kim "was overwhelmingly welcomed in the Amur region," read a headline in the newspaper.
Some North Korea analysts in Seoul said the North's media strategy was apparently intended to put diplomatic pressure on South Korea, the U.S. and China as it steps up efforts to get much-needed aid and resume the six-party nuclear talks.
"The North's move is seen as an intention to apply diplomatic pressure on South Korea, the U.S. and China by livening up the atmosphere by having the summit with Russia," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
On the morning of Aug. 23, Kim arrived in Ulan-Ude aboard his special train, the typical means of transportation for the 69-year-old leader rumored to be afraid of flying.
He then visited a village on the shores of Lake Baikal and took a swim in a pool filled with Baikal water before taking a boat ride on the lake. He returned to Ulan-Ude later in the day to tour the aircraft plant that makes Sukhoi fighters and helicopters.
After spending the night on his special train parked at Ulan-Ude Station, the North Korean leader headed for the village of Sosnovy Bor, about 20 km from Ulan-Ude on Aug. 24 morning for the summit with his Russian counterpart.
Kim's trip to Russia comes as the North is struggling to build a prosperous and powerful nation next year, the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder and president, Kim Il-sung, the father of current leader Kim Jong-il.
Still, doubts linger about whether the North can make any economic breakthrough by next year, especially given its appeal for food aid in recent months to help feed its people.
The North's recent devastating floods could further worsen the already fragile food situation in a country that has relied on foreign handouts since the late 1990s.
(END)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)
Kim Jong-il Says N. Korea Ready to Halt Nuke Tests If Six-party Talks Resume
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his intent to return to the long-stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs without preconditions and impose a moratorium on tests of weapons of mass destruction, a news report said on Aug. 24.
Kim, who began his visit to Russia on Aug. 20, made the conciliatory comment during his rare summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a military base on the outskirts of the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude.
Kim was quoted by Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova as saying that in the course of the nuclear talks, his country will be ready to solve the problem of imposing a moratorium on the tests and production of nuclear weapons, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Hours after the summit, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the two leaders "shared the view that the six-party talks should be resumed without any preconditions at an early date to implement the Sept. 19 joint statement on the principle of simultaneous action and thus accelerate the denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula."
The KCNA also reported "the talks discussed a series of agenda items on boosting economic and cooperative relations in various fields, including the issue of energy such as gas and the issue of linking railways, and the two sides reached a common understanding on them."
Russian reports said the two countries also agreed to set up a commission for gas transit to South Korea via North Korea, a lucrative project that could help ease tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
The development on Pyongyang's nuclear ambition represents the latest progress in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to coax the North to give up its nuclear weapons programs in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.
The moratorium, if put in place, means that the North would not carry out any further nuclear and missile tests that have long been a cause for concern in the region.
In Seoul, however, South Korean officials said that there was nothing new in Kim's reported comments, though they remain cautious as the government has yet to receive a debriefing from Russia.
"The results of the North Korea-Russia summit fell short of expectations of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. The North is required to dispel suspicion surrounding its uranium enrichment program, too, in order for the six-party talks to resume," said a government official in Seoul.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Kim Jong-il's reported promise to impose a moratorium on nuclear testing is "insufficient," as its uranium enrichment program remains a serious concern.
"Obviously, if in fact they are now willing to refrain from nuclear tests and missile launches, this would be welcome, but it would be insufficient," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.
She pointed out that Pyongyang disclosed its uranium enrichment facilities last November, a clear sign that the reclusive nation is seeking the second path to develop its nuclear arsenal.
In the Sept. 19, 2005 deal at the six-party talks, the North agreed to abandon all of its nuclear programs in exchange for political and economic incentives.
The socialist country has a track record of alternately using provocations and dialogue with South Korea, the United States and other regional powers to try to wrest concessions before backtracking on agreements and quitting the nuclear talks.
The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2009 and subsequently conducted its second nuclear test in defiance of international warnings. It also raised tensions by torpedoing a South Korean warship and shelling a South Korean border island last year.
Still, the North has repeatedly expressed its interest in rejoining the nuclear talks that involve South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan. Last month, North Korea and the United States held rare high-level meetings in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks.
On economic cooperation, Russian President Medvedev said he agreed with Kim to set up a commission to supply Russia's natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest buyers of the fuel, via North Korea, ITAR-Tass reported.
North Korea "seeks to realize this project," Medvedev said, adding there were plans to build a 1,100-kilometer gas pipeline, according to the Russian news agency.
The project, if realized, could help ease tensions on the peninsula and bring an economic boon to the impoverished North. North Korea could expect to earn more than US$500 million a year in handling charges over the gas pipeline, according to South Korean analysts.
Meanwhile, Kim and Medvedev drafted approaches to settle North Korea's US$11 billion debt, ITAR-Tass said, citing Russian officials.
After the talks, Kim headed toward the east of Siberia, according to local sources.
North Korea watchers said that Kim's visit is aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two countries that have cooled since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Kim arrived in Russia over the weekend on his first trip there since 2002.
Kim's trip to Russia started on Aug. 20 when he arrived in the Russian Far East aboard a special train. Kim's train crossed the North Korean-Russian border early in the morning and stopped in the Russian border city of Khasan around 10 a.m.
North Korea's state-controlled media quickly reported Kim Jong-il's arrival in Russia's Amur Oblast region.
The confirmation of the visit is uncharacteristically fast for North Korean news outlets that in the past had imposed media blackouts on foreign visits with details of Kim's trips to places like China only being released when he was on his way home.
Kim visited the Russian Far East in 2002 after making a 24-day trip to Moscow and other Russian cities in July 2001.
This year, the reclusive leader traveled to China in May for the third visit to his country's closest ally in just over a year.
The KCNA added that Kim toured the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station in the Amur region and expressed hope such facilities will fuel economic growth and people's welfare in Russia's Far East.
Besides the news agency, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station and the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station all reported Kim's Russian visit as well as the response expressed by North Korean citizens.
Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant, the largest in Russia's Far East, fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy.
In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the power station to the Korean Peninsula. It has also proposed building a pipeline through the divided peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest natural gas consumers.
Earlier on Aug. 21, Kim's special train arrived in Khabarovsk, about 900 kilometers north of Khasan, at 4 a.m. without stopping in Vladivostok.
The North Korean leader traveled about 600 kilometers to Bureya by train before driving an additional 80 km to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant.
After touring the power station, Kim left for Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, for summit talks with Medvedev.
In another sign of improving health, Kim appears to be using his left arm, which was previously known to have been affected by his 2008 stroke.
Kim Ok, believed to be Kim's consort, is accompanying the leader on the trip. The former secretary known as Kim's fourth wife also traveled to China when the leader went there in May.
In the photo, the 47-year-old Kim Ok was seen assisting Kim Jong-il in signing a visitors' book at the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station, indicating the woman's virtual status as first lady.
Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, is not accompanying his father on the trip, though top military, economic and other officials, including Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju, were traveling with the North Korean leader, according to the KCNA dispatch.
In May, Kim Jong-un greeted his father in a North Korean border city after his father returned home from a trip to China. The junior Kim, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as North Korea's next leader.
According to the KCNA report, Kim's entourage also included Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces; Jang Song-thaek and Kim Yang-gon, both members of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of (North) Korea (WPK) Central Committee; Pak Pong-ju, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee; O Su-yong, chief secretary of the North Hamgyong Provincial Committee of the WPK; and Kim Kye-gwan, first- vice minister of Foreign Affairs.
For years, Russia has proposed building a pipeline through the divided Korean Peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest buyers of natural gas.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said this month that North Korea reacted "positively" to the natural-gas pipeline construction project. The North's reaction was conveyed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Kim during their bilateral talks on Aug. 8.
Moscow has also floated the idea of connecting its Trans-Siberian Railway with South Korea via North Korea, a proposal that would provide cheaper shipping routes for South Korean companies selling goods to Europe.
During the trip, North Korea's state media has given frequent reports. The North's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Aug. 22 carried a front-page article on Kim's visit to the Bureiskaya hydroelectric power plant. Kim "was overwhelmingly welcomed in the Amur region," read a headline in the newspaper.
Some North Korea analysts in Seoul said the North's media strategy was apparently intended to put diplomatic pressure on South Korea, the U.S. and China as it steps up efforts to get much-needed aid and resume the six-party nuclear talks.
"The North's move is seen as an intention to apply diplomatic pressure on South Korea, the U.S. and China by livening up the atmosphere by having the summit with Russia," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
On the morning of Aug. 23, Kim arrived in Ulan-Ude aboard his special train, the typical means of transportation for the 69-year-old leader rumored to be afraid of flying.
He then visited a village on the shores of Lake Baikal and took a swim in a pool filled with Baikal water before taking a boat ride on the lake. He returned to Ulan-Ude later in the day to tour the aircraft plant that makes Sukhoi fighters and helicopters.
After spending the night on his special train parked at Ulan-Ude Station, the North Korean leader headed for the village of Sosnovy Bor, about 20 km from Ulan-Ude on Aug. 24 morning for the summit with his Russian counterpart.
Kim's trip to Russia comes as the North is struggling to build a prosperous and powerful nation next year, the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder and president, Kim Il-sung, the father of current leader Kim Jong-il.
Still, doubts linger about whether the North can make any economic breakthrough by next year, especially given its appeal for food aid in recent months to help feed its people.
The North's recent devastating floods could further worsen the already fragile food situation in a country that has relied on foreign handouts since the late 1990s.
(END)
