ID :
203589
Fri, 08/26/2011 - 01:37
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/203589
The shortlink copeid
(LEAD) U.S. urges N. Korea to halt uranium enrichment program
ATTN: UPDATES with experts' view in last 6 paras)
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government on Thursday dismissed North Korea's claim that its uranium enrichment program has a peaceful purpose, saying Pyongyang still falls short of Washington's expectations for initial steps to resume full-fledged talks.
"We don't see any reason for that to meet civilian needs," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
She enumerated measures the North should take before seeking further dialogue on denuclearization and bilateral relations.
Top diplomats from North Korea and the U.S. met in New York late last month in what U.S. officials described as an "exploratory" meeting to see if the communist nation is serious about negotiations.
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, heading the North's delegation to the talks, told reporters that his country's uranium program is designed for power generation.
In the latest development, the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, reportedly said in a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week that his country is willing to rejoin the six-way talks "without preconditions" and impose a moratorium on nuclear testing and missile launches.
The department official reiterated that those steps are "insufficient."
In the New York meeting, she said, the U.S. clarified what the North should do.
"There are no secrets there in terms of our listed expectations vis-a-vis North Korea," Nuland said. "So when they come forward with a couple of them, as we said, it's still insufficient."
She said the North should stop its uranium-based nuclear development, improve relations with South Korea and abide by a 2005 agreement with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan to abandon its nuclear program in return for political and economic rewards.
"We need to see them taking concrete steps along all those lines," she said.
Experts here were also cautious about the North's recent charm offensive.
"Moratoria on testing are meaningless if he (the North Korean leader) feels free to end them at will as he has in the past," said Richard Bush, senior analyst at the Brookings Institution. "He must take steps to allay those doubts. The process of reengagement can only begin by talking to South Korea. And Pyongyang must come clean on its enrichment program."
Michael Green, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also said the North's gestures seem aimed at "gaining concessions needed before testing and other provocations in 2012."
He said the Kim-Medvedev deal on a cross-border gas pipeline is not new. The leaders agreed to set up a joint commission to work out details of a plan to send natural gas to South Korea by way of a pipeline through North Korea.
Green, who worked at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2005 in the George W. Bush administration, said then-Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a pipeline across the Korean Peninsula to Bush in 2002 as the solution to North Korea's uranium enrichment program crisis.
"This is an old Russian dream," he said. "Seoul would be crazy to consider it, since the North could easily use the pipeline as leverage."
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government on Thursday dismissed North Korea's claim that its uranium enrichment program has a peaceful purpose, saying Pyongyang still falls short of Washington's expectations for initial steps to resume full-fledged talks.
"We don't see any reason for that to meet civilian needs," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
She enumerated measures the North should take before seeking further dialogue on denuclearization and bilateral relations.
Top diplomats from North Korea and the U.S. met in New York late last month in what U.S. officials described as an "exploratory" meeting to see if the communist nation is serious about negotiations.
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, heading the North's delegation to the talks, told reporters that his country's uranium program is designed for power generation.
In the latest development, the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, reportedly said in a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week that his country is willing to rejoin the six-way talks "without preconditions" and impose a moratorium on nuclear testing and missile launches.
The department official reiterated that those steps are "insufficient."
In the New York meeting, she said, the U.S. clarified what the North should do.
"There are no secrets there in terms of our listed expectations vis-a-vis North Korea," Nuland said. "So when they come forward with a couple of them, as we said, it's still insufficient."
She said the North should stop its uranium-based nuclear development, improve relations with South Korea and abide by a 2005 agreement with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan to abandon its nuclear program in return for political and economic rewards.
"We need to see them taking concrete steps along all those lines," she said.
Experts here were also cautious about the North's recent charm offensive.
"Moratoria on testing are meaningless if he (the North Korean leader) feels free to end them at will as he has in the past," said Richard Bush, senior analyst at the Brookings Institution. "He must take steps to allay those doubts. The process of reengagement can only begin by talking to South Korea. And Pyongyang must come clean on its enrichment program."
Michael Green, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also said the North's gestures seem aimed at "gaining concessions needed before testing and other provocations in 2012."
He said the Kim-Medvedev deal on a cross-border gas pipeline is not new. The leaders agreed to set up a joint commission to work out details of a plan to send natural gas to South Korea by way of a pipeline through North Korea.
Green, who worked at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2005 in the George W. Bush administration, said then-Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a pipeline across the Korean Peninsula to Bush in 2002 as the solution to North Korea's uranium enrichment program crisis.
"This is an old Russian dream," he said. "Seoul would be crazy to consider it, since the North could easily use the pipeline as leverage."
