BEIJING, 30 August 2003 — Six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis ended yesterday in acrimony with North Korea threatening to strengthen its nuclear arsenal unless Washington met its demands for a resolution of the standoff.
While envoys reached consensus on the need to address Pyongyang’s security concerns and agreed that more talks were necessary, they failed to set a timetable.
North Korea said its expectations at the three-day talks also involving China, Japan, Russia and South Korea had been “betrayed” by the “hostile” US policy and that a new round of negotiations was endangered.
“If our reasonable proposal is turned aside at the talks, we will judge that the US does not intend to give up its attempt to stifle the DPRK (North Korea) by force at an appropriate time,” said a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA mouthpiece as talks wound up.
“In this case the DPRK cannot dismantle its nuclear deterrent force but will have no option but to increase it.”
The verbal blast came as US officials said North Korea had threatened during the talks to conduct a nuclear test and declare itself a nuclear power. China characterized the relationship between the United States and North Korea as one of “severe and serious distrust” that needs to be addressed.
Washington has been adamant that the Stalinist state’s nuclear programs must be dismantled before it will consider economic assistance and diplomatic normalization for the bankrupt country.
North Korea’s chief negotiator Kim Yong-Il repeated during the talks the regime’s long-standing demands that a non-aggression pact is signed, diplomatic relations normalized and the US refrain from interfering in the North’s economic relations with other countries. He also insisted the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was Pyongyang’s ultimate goal.
Despite the fiery rhetoric, China’s chief delegate, Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi, described the talks as “helpful” but admitted that “some disagreement still remains.”
“The parties all believe that there should be a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula and all parties agreed to consider the concerns of the DPRK... including the security concerns,” he said.
“All in all the Chinese side believes this round of talks is useful and we have also made a very important step forward towards finding a peaceful solution of the issue.”
South Korea’s head delegate, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Soo-Hyuck, said that while dates and a venue had yet to be decided, an agreement had at least been reached on a new round of negotiations.
“The six countries agreed to continue the talks,” he said, adding that there was an understanding, but not an agreement, that they should be within two months.
“They have decided to consult on the date and the venue for the next round of talks through diplomatic channels later,” he said.
Russian delegation head Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said Thursday the talks would again be held in Beijing. Japanese envoy Mitoji Yabunaka said “our task (now) is how to overcome our differences.”
A tired looking US envoy James Kelly, who triggered the crisis last October when he said North Korea had admitted to having a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 bilateral accord, refused comment on his arrival back at his hotel.
Washington immediately cut vital fuel shipments to the Stalinist state after Kelly’s revelation, while North Korea responded by expelling UN inspectors, re-starting a mothballed reactor and withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
The US, with Japan and South Korea, agreed to halt construction of light water reactors in North Korea that began last year in return for a freeze on the North’s nuclear program, reports said yesterday after the six-nation talks.
The trio will propose to freeze the project as early as mid-September, when the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) convenes a meeting of board members, Jiji Press said. It is likely to be a one-year suspension, but the project may be scrapped if North Korea fails to abandon its nuclear program, Jiji Press said.
