ID :
37258
Thu, 12/25/2008 - 07:15
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/37258
The shortlink copeid
Nuke talks in trouble again after some, but limited, progress
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Yonhap) -- Regional powers' efforts to scrap North Korea's nuclear program followed a typical pattern of short-lived progress and drawn-out stalemate throughout this year, a reminder that dealing with Pyongyang is a true game of patience.
"We need more patience. What is important is not to lose hope," South Korea's top
nuclear negotiator, Kim Sook, told Yonhap News Agency.
He emphasized that this year's efforts were not pointless, although the six-way
talks are again in limbo.
"North Korea finally submitted a declaration (of its nuclear program), and
discussions on verifying it got underway," Kim said. "But there will be bigger
difficulties ahead."
He added that negotiators suffered time constraints in the final year of the Bush
administration.
The first half was wasted in a dispute over the format and contents of the
declaration, whose correctness and completeness was viewed as a test of
Pyongyang's will to denuclearize.
In a breakthrough, the North submitted a list of self-claimed nuclear activities
on June 26. Washington immediately announced a plan to rescind the
two-decade-long designation of Pyongyang as a terrorism-sponsoring nation.
The following day, the North blew up a cooling tower at its main nuclear
facilities in Yonbyon that were being disabled under the Oct. 3, 2007 deal with
its five nuclear bargaining partners -- the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia, and
Japan.
In their first talks this year in July, the six parties set the end of October as
a renewed deadline for wrapping up the disabling and the delivery of energy aid
equivalent to 1 million tons of heavy oil to North Korea.
But they missed the target date amid a standoff over how to verify the North's
nuclear declaration.
Pyongyang took weeks of steps to reverse the disabling of the Yongbyon reactor in
retaliation for Washington's refusal to put the delisting into effect.
Pressed for time to leave a foreign policy legacy, the Bush administration
dispatched its chief nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, to Pyongyang in early
October. The U.S. State Department said that the North agreed during Hill's visit
to a set of "scientific procedures, including sampling and foreign activities"
for verification, and it promptly dropped the communist country from the terror
list. The North later claimed that sampling was not included in the written deal
with Hill.
Pyongyang spurned a proposed verification protocol in the latest round of six-way
talks from Dec. 8-11, dashing hopes of an early Christmas present for the U.S.
and the other parties. The negotiations ended without a new deal. No date for the
next round has been set yet.
"North Korea's rejection of the verification agreement that the Bush
administration claimed Pyongyang had previously accepted made clear that
Washington prematurely removed North Korea from the terrorist list," Bruce
Klingner, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Yonhap.
"It also showed the fallacy of the U.S. strategy of relying on vague language and
partial North Korean compliance to maintain a perception of progress in the
six-party talks."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea was to blame, saying
only an "idiot" would trust it.
"Nobody was trusting of the North Koreans. I mean, who trusts the North Koreans?
You'd have to be an idiot to trust the North Koreans," she said last week in a
meeting with experts organized by the Council of Foreign Relations. "That's why
we have a verification protocol that we are negotiating."
The deadlock even drove a wedge between the U.S. and Russia over whether to
continue the promised energy assistance. Close to 600,000 tons of heavy fuel has
been shipped so far. The U.S. is calling for a halt to the delivery, while Russia
says it should continue.
Some analysts here see a silver lining in the cloud, just as the South Korean
envoy does.
"Even though the Oct. 3 agreement was not implemented completely, this year was
not futile in terms of the overall denuclearization process," Cho Sung-ryul, an
analyst at the Institute for National Security Strategy said. "North Korea showed
its will to implement it."
He ascribed the current trouble to the political situation in the final months of
the Bush administration.
"North Korea is apparently waiting for the (incoming) Obama administration," he
said. "I think the six-way talks could resume by June next year at the latest if
working-level dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. is maintained."
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
"We need more patience. What is important is not to lose hope," South Korea's top
nuclear negotiator, Kim Sook, told Yonhap News Agency.
He emphasized that this year's efforts were not pointless, although the six-way
talks are again in limbo.
"North Korea finally submitted a declaration (of its nuclear program), and
discussions on verifying it got underway," Kim said. "But there will be bigger
difficulties ahead."
He added that negotiators suffered time constraints in the final year of the Bush
administration.
The first half was wasted in a dispute over the format and contents of the
declaration, whose correctness and completeness was viewed as a test of
Pyongyang's will to denuclearize.
In a breakthrough, the North submitted a list of self-claimed nuclear activities
on June 26. Washington immediately announced a plan to rescind the
two-decade-long designation of Pyongyang as a terrorism-sponsoring nation.
The following day, the North blew up a cooling tower at its main nuclear
facilities in Yonbyon that were being disabled under the Oct. 3, 2007 deal with
its five nuclear bargaining partners -- the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia, and
Japan.
In their first talks this year in July, the six parties set the end of October as
a renewed deadline for wrapping up the disabling and the delivery of energy aid
equivalent to 1 million tons of heavy oil to North Korea.
But they missed the target date amid a standoff over how to verify the North's
nuclear declaration.
Pyongyang took weeks of steps to reverse the disabling of the Yongbyon reactor in
retaliation for Washington's refusal to put the delisting into effect.
Pressed for time to leave a foreign policy legacy, the Bush administration
dispatched its chief nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, to Pyongyang in early
October. The U.S. State Department said that the North agreed during Hill's visit
to a set of "scientific procedures, including sampling and foreign activities"
for verification, and it promptly dropped the communist country from the terror
list. The North later claimed that sampling was not included in the written deal
with Hill.
Pyongyang spurned a proposed verification protocol in the latest round of six-way
talks from Dec. 8-11, dashing hopes of an early Christmas present for the U.S.
and the other parties. The negotiations ended without a new deal. No date for the
next round has been set yet.
"North Korea's rejection of the verification agreement that the Bush
administration claimed Pyongyang had previously accepted made clear that
Washington prematurely removed North Korea from the terrorist list," Bruce
Klingner, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Yonhap.
"It also showed the fallacy of the U.S. strategy of relying on vague language and
partial North Korean compliance to maintain a perception of progress in the
six-party talks."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea was to blame, saying
only an "idiot" would trust it.
"Nobody was trusting of the North Koreans. I mean, who trusts the North Koreans?
You'd have to be an idiot to trust the North Koreans," she said last week in a
meeting with experts organized by the Council of Foreign Relations. "That's why
we have a verification protocol that we are negotiating."
The deadlock even drove a wedge between the U.S. and Russia over whether to
continue the promised energy assistance. Close to 600,000 tons of heavy fuel has
been shipped so far. The U.S. is calling for a halt to the delivery, while Russia
says it should continue.
Some analysts here see a silver lining in the cloud, just as the South Korean
envoy does.
"Even though the Oct. 3 agreement was not implemented completely, this year was
not futile in terms of the overall denuclearization process," Cho Sung-ryul, an
analyst at the Institute for National Security Strategy said. "North Korea showed
its will to implement it."
He ascribed the current trouble to the political situation in the final months of
the Bush administration.
"North Korea is apparently waiting for the (incoming) Obama administration," he
said. "I think the six-way talks could resume by June next year at the latest if
working-level dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. is maintained."
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
