BEIJING, 20 September 2005 — North Korea promised to give up its nuclear weapons program yesterday, defusing a high-stakes crisis, but skeptics said the deal hammered out in Beijing was long on words and short of action.
South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China — the other players in the six-party talks — in exchange expressed a willingness to provide oil, energy aid and security guarantees.
Washington and Tokyo agreed to normalize ties with the impoverished and diplomatically isolated North, which pledged to rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“The joint statement is the most important achievement in the two years since the start of six-party talks,” Chinese chief negotiator Wu Dawei said. The seven-day session ended with a standing ovation by all delegates.
South Korea’s unification minister, Chung Dong-young, went further, saying the agreement would serve as a first step toward dismantling the Cold War confrontation between the two Koreas.
The United States said it would only discuss a possible light water reactor for North Korea after it dismantles its nuclear weapons, rejoins the international Non-Proliferation Treaty and allows UN weapons inspectors to verify.
US envoy Christopher Hill welcomed the agreement, calling it a win-win deal, but said the issue of peaceful nuclear energy for North Korea would not be rushed. “We’ll have discussions on the issue of peaceful energy, particularly the subject of provision of a light water nuclear reactor, but only at an appropriate time,” he told reporters.
“The appropriate time will only come when the DPRK has promptly eliminated all nuclear weapons and all nuclear programs, and this has been verified to the satisfaction of all parties by credible international means.” “And that appropriate time is once the DPRK has gotten back to the NPT in good standing and gotten back into the NPT with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards.
“Talk about the DPRK’s right to peaceful use in advance of them is really to talk theory rather than facts.”
Japan’s chief delegate, Kenichiro Sasae, agreed, saying: “We must secure specific agreements regarding the implementation of the agreed principles, particularly the specific sequence toward realization of the abandonment of nuclear programs by North Korea and verification measures.”
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said he welcomed the deal and hoped it would lead to an early return of UN inspectors to North Korea.
In Washington, President George W. Bush said that Pyongyang’s pledge was a positive step, but he expressed some skepticism about whether the country would live up to its promises.
“They have said — in principle — that they will abandon their weapons programs,” Bush said. “And what we have said is, ‘Great. That’s a wonderful step forward.’ But now we’ve got to verify whether that happens.”
“The question is, over time will all parties adhere to the agreement,” Bush said.
The six parties agreed to hold a fifth round of talks in Beijing in November, but analysts had reservations about whether points of contention had been resolved.
Bob Broadfoot, managing director of Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong, said: “I suspect anything they’ve signed is built around a philosophy of ‘show me first’.
“The devil will be in the detail of who’s allowed to go in when to inspect the status of North Korea’s program. And you can bet there’ll be some controversy around that,” he said.
