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208757
Thu, 09/22/2011 - 07:13
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Two Koreas Fail to Agree on Terms of Resuming Six-party Talks
NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO 176 (September 22, 2011)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)
Two Koreas Fail to Agree on Terms of Resuming Six-party Talks
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The chief nuclear envoys of South and North Korea met for three hours in Beijing on Sept. 21 but failed to agree on terms to resume stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear programs.
The day of discussions between Wi Sung-lac of South Korea and Ri Yong-ho of North Korea was the second in two months aimed at paving the way for the resumption of the full six-way negotiations. Although the envoys parted ways without agreement on whether they would meet again, they said their discussions had been "useful."
"We discussed the nuclear problem in general, and a meeting such as this is part of the efforts to restart the six-party talks," Wi told reporters after the meeting at the private Chang An Club in the center of Beijing. "We will keep putting in these efforts."
Ri spoke of the "constructive and useful" dialogue he had with Wi, but reiterated an earlier call for the resumption of the six-party talks with no strings attached.
"Based on the result of this meeting, we will work toward the quick resumption of the six-party talks without preconditions," Ri said.
According to South Korean officials, the sticking point in the meeting was South Korea's demand for North Korea to take some preemptive measures to back up its denuclearization pledge before the six-party talks resume.
The actions North Korea was advised to take included halting its uranium enrichment program (UEP), allowing U.N. nuclear inspectors to re-enter the country and placing a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests, the officials said.
Skirting the South Korean demands, North Korea insisted that the six-party forum should restart without any conditions attached, according to South Korean officials.
"Our stance is that North Korea must go into the (six-party) negotiations after suspending its UEP," a South Korean diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A high-ranking South Korean government official said the Beijing meeting wasn't entirely lost, adding he was hopeful that continued inter-Korean dialogue could foster progress on North Korea's denuclearization.
"Through this meeting, we developed a better understanding of each other in some areas, and cleared doubts and misunderstandings in others," the official said. "North Korea appeared to believe that we were opposed to holding the six-party talks, but that has been clarified."
The official said South Korea raised the issue of North Korea's two deadly provocations against the South last year. Seoul is demanding Pyongyang take responsibility for torpedoing the warship Cheonan and shelling the border island of Yeonpyeong. The two attacks claimed a total of 50 lives.
The North "had no particular reaction" to the South's demand during the inter-Korean contact, the official said.
The Beijing meeting was the second of its kind following a first dialogue in Indonesia in July on the sidelines of an Asian security forum. That led to a high-level contact between North Korea and the United States in New York a few weeks later.
It's unclear whether the latest inter-Korean meeting in Beijing will set the stage for another high-level U.S.-North Korea contact.
The six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia have been dormant since Pyongyang quit them in April 2009 then conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
The North's military attacks on South Korea last year, together with its self-confessed uranium enrichment program, have created new hurdles to efforts by regional powers to reopen the six-nation talks.
After sharply raising tensions, the North has expressed its willingness in recent months to return to the talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and diplomatic recognition from Washington and Tokyo.
The question now is whether Pyongyang will accept "pre-steps" demanded by Seoul and Washington before the resumption of the six-party talks.
Seoul and Washington have both insisted that Pyongyang halt all nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor the suspension before the six-party talks reopen.
However, chances for any immediate progress toward resuming the talks appeared low after the North's Ri on Sept. 19 repeated calls for an "unconditional" resumption of the six-party forum.
"Attaching pre-conditions ahead of a dialogue will hurt the trust and confidence in each other," Ri was quoted as saying by a diplomatic source in Beijing.
During the forum in Beijing, Ri reportedly said that North Korea has proposed holding another round of meetings with the United States following the Sept. 21 inter-Korean discussion.
Since the July talks between Wi and Ri, Seoul and Washington have engaged in preliminary discussions with Pyongyang to gauge the possibility of restarting the six-party talks.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, during a rare summit on Aug. 24 with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, reportedly pledged to consider issuing a moratorium on nuclear testing and missile launches if the six-party talks resume.
South Korea and the U.S., however, have reacted coldly to the North's latest gesture, urging Pyongyang to announce such a moratorium and address concerns about its uranium enrichment program before the multilateral negotiations begin.
The North claims the uranium enrichment program is for peaceful energy development, but outside experts believe that it will give the country a new source of fission material to make atomic bombs, in addition to its widely known plutonium-based weapons program.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the denuclearization efforts will go hand in hand with President Lee Myung-bak's "grand bargain" initiative, which calls for North Korea to trade away its nuclear programs for economic aid and security guarantees.
Speaking at a parliamentary hearing, Kim said the nuclear envoys' meeting signifies that South Korea will "examine the things North Korea wants" if Pyongyang agrees to abandon its nuclear arsenal. He stressed that the "grand bargain" will not go before, but together with, denuclearization efforts.
(END)
*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)
Two Koreas Fail to Agree on Terms of Resuming Six-party Talks
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The chief nuclear envoys of South and North Korea met for three hours in Beijing on Sept. 21 but failed to agree on terms to resume stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear programs.
The day of discussions between Wi Sung-lac of South Korea and Ri Yong-ho of North Korea was the second in two months aimed at paving the way for the resumption of the full six-way negotiations. Although the envoys parted ways without agreement on whether they would meet again, they said their discussions had been "useful."
"We discussed the nuclear problem in general, and a meeting such as this is part of the efforts to restart the six-party talks," Wi told reporters after the meeting at the private Chang An Club in the center of Beijing. "We will keep putting in these efforts."
Ri spoke of the "constructive and useful" dialogue he had with Wi, but reiterated an earlier call for the resumption of the six-party talks with no strings attached.
"Based on the result of this meeting, we will work toward the quick resumption of the six-party talks without preconditions," Ri said.
According to South Korean officials, the sticking point in the meeting was South Korea's demand for North Korea to take some preemptive measures to back up its denuclearization pledge before the six-party talks resume.
The actions North Korea was advised to take included halting its uranium enrichment program (UEP), allowing U.N. nuclear inspectors to re-enter the country and placing a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests, the officials said.
Skirting the South Korean demands, North Korea insisted that the six-party forum should restart without any conditions attached, according to South Korean officials.
"Our stance is that North Korea must go into the (six-party) negotiations after suspending its UEP," a South Korean diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A high-ranking South Korean government official said the Beijing meeting wasn't entirely lost, adding he was hopeful that continued inter-Korean dialogue could foster progress on North Korea's denuclearization.
"Through this meeting, we developed a better understanding of each other in some areas, and cleared doubts and misunderstandings in others," the official said. "North Korea appeared to believe that we were opposed to holding the six-party talks, but that has been clarified."
The official said South Korea raised the issue of North Korea's two deadly provocations against the South last year. Seoul is demanding Pyongyang take responsibility for torpedoing the warship Cheonan and shelling the border island of Yeonpyeong. The two attacks claimed a total of 50 lives.
The North "had no particular reaction" to the South's demand during the inter-Korean contact, the official said.
The Beijing meeting was the second of its kind following a first dialogue in Indonesia in July on the sidelines of an Asian security forum. That led to a high-level contact between North Korea and the United States in New York a few weeks later.
It's unclear whether the latest inter-Korean meeting in Beijing will set the stage for another high-level U.S.-North Korea contact.
The six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia have been dormant since Pyongyang quit them in April 2009 then conducted its second nuclear test a month later.
The North's military attacks on South Korea last year, together with its self-confessed uranium enrichment program, have created new hurdles to efforts by regional powers to reopen the six-nation talks.
After sharply raising tensions, the North has expressed its willingness in recent months to return to the talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and diplomatic recognition from Washington and Tokyo.
The question now is whether Pyongyang will accept "pre-steps" demanded by Seoul and Washington before the resumption of the six-party talks.
Seoul and Washington have both insisted that Pyongyang halt all nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program, and allow U.N. inspectors to monitor the suspension before the six-party talks reopen.
However, chances for any immediate progress toward resuming the talks appeared low after the North's Ri on Sept. 19 repeated calls for an "unconditional" resumption of the six-party forum.
"Attaching pre-conditions ahead of a dialogue will hurt the trust and confidence in each other," Ri was quoted as saying by a diplomatic source in Beijing.
During the forum in Beijing, Ri reportedly said that North Korea has proposed holding another round of meetings with the United States following the Sept. 21 inter-Korean discussion.
Since the July talks between Wi and Ri, Seoul and Washington have engaged in preliminary discussions with Pyongyang to gauge the possibility of restarting the six-party talks.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, during a rare summit on Aug. 24 with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, reportedly pledged to consider issuing a moratorium on nuclear testing and missile launches if the six-party talks resume.
South Korea and the U.S., however, have reacted coldly to the North's latest gesture, urging Pyongyang to announce such a moratorium and address concerns about its uranium enrichment program before the multilateral negotiations begin.
The North claims the uranium enrichment program is for peaceful energy development, but outside experts believe that it will give the country a new source of fission material to make atomic bombs, in addition to its widely known plutonium-based weapons program.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the denuclearization efforts will go hand in hand with President Lee Myung-bak's "grand bargain" initiative, which calls for North Korea to trade away its nuclear programs for economic aid and security guarantees.
Speaking at a parliamentary hearing, Kim said the nuclear envoys' meeting signifies that South Korea will "examine the things North Korea wants" if Pyongyang agrees to abandon its nuclear arsenal. He stressed that the "grand bargain" will not go before, but together with, denuclearization efforts.
(END)
