ID :
19893
Wed, 09/17/2008 - 10:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/19893
The shortlink copeid
U.S. repeats call on N. Korea to present verification regime for nuclear programs
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday urged North Korea to come up with a verification regime on its nuclear programs regardless of who's in charge amid reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health failure.
"There is clearly a decision-making process in North Korea, but I can't tell
you exactly who's up and who's down and who participates in that decision-making
process," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
He was responding to the question on the uncertainty surrounding Kim Jong-il, who
reportedly is recovering from major brain surgery.
"What we're looking for now is agreement to a verification regime, and we
are going to continue to urge North Korea to agree to that verification regime,
so we can move this process forward, and we can get on with the business of
denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman said at a daily press
briefing.
The six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programs came to a standstill
in recent months as North Korea stopped disabling its main nuclear reactor,
citing Washington's failure to remove the North from the terrorism blacklist.
The U.S. wants the North to agree to a verification regime on its nuclear
programs, including an alleged uranium-based program and suspected nuclear
proliferation, before it takes Pyongyang off the list.
"What matters to the international system is the outputs," McCormack
said. "And thus far, that decision-making process has not yielded the
outputs that the international system and more specifically the six-party talks
is seeking."
The spokesman said that North Korea will be able to "realize, step by step,
a different kind of relationship with the rest of the world ... in the process of
doing so."
Under a multilateral nuclear deal involving the two Koreas, U.S., China, Japan
and Russia, North Korea is supposed to dismantle its nuclear programs and
facilities in return for hefty economic aid and diplomatic recognition by the
U.S. and Japan.
The U.S. is in close contact with North Korea's permanent representative to the
United Nations in New York, but has not yet scheduled another round of six-party
talks or a ministerial meeting of the six countries, the spokesman said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill recently wound up a tour of
Beijing, but failed to meet with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan,
spawning concerns over North Korea's reluctance to proceed with the
denuclearization talks in the waning months of the Bush administration.
News of Kim Jong-il's brain surgery broke out soon after Hill returned home early
last week, triggering speculation that North Korea's military took advantage of
Kim's illness to disrupt the on-and-off nuclear talks that began more than five
years ago.
hdh@yna.co.kr
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday urged North Korea to come up with a verification regime on its nuclear programs regardless of who's in charge amid reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health failure.
"There is clearly a decision-making process in North Korea, but I can't tell
you exactly who's up and who's down and who participates in that decision-making
process," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
He was responding to the question on the uncertainty surrounding Kim Jong-il, who
reportedly is recovering from major brain surgery.
"What we're looking for now is agreement to a verification regime, and we
are going to continue to urge North Korea to agree to that verification regime,
so we can move this process forward, and we can get on with the business of
denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman said at a daily press
briefing.
The six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programs came to a standstill
in recent months as North Korea stopped disabling its main nuclear reactor,
citing Washington's failure to remove the North from the terrorism blacklist.
The U.S. wants the North to agree to a verification regime on its nuclear
programs, including an alleged uranium-based program and suspected nuclear
proliferation, before it takes Pyongyang off the list.
"What matters to the international system is the outputs," McCormack
said. "And thus far, that decision-making process has not yielded the
outputs that the international system and more specifically the six-party talks
is seeking."
The spokesman said that North Korea will be able to "realize, step by step,
a different kind of relationship with the rest of the world ... in the process of
doing so."
Under a multilateral nuclear deal involving the two Koreas, U.S., China, Japan
and Russia, North Korea is supposed to dismantle its nuclear programs and
facilities in return for hefty economic aid and diplomatic recognition by the
U.S. and Japan.
The U.S. is in close contact with North Korea's permanent representative to the
United Nations in New York, but has not yet scheduled another round of six-party
talks or a ministerial meeting of the six countries, the spokesman said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill recently wound up a tour of
Beijing, but failed to meet with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan,
spawning concerns over North Korea's reluctance to proceed with the
denuclearization talks in the waning months of the Bush administration.
News of Kim Jong-il's brain surgery broke out soon after Hill returned home early
last week, triggering speculation that North Korea's military took advantage of
Kim's illness to disrupt the on-and-off nuclear talks that began more than five
years ago.
hdh@yna.co.kr
