Kim Jong-il Promised to Wait with Nuke Tests
// But demanded to lift sanctions off North Korea
Details of the visit of China’s state council member Tan Tzyasyuan to Pyongyang became known yesterday. Tzyasyuan met with Kim Jong-il who said that he does not intend to carry out more nuclear tests, and even apologized for the first test on October 9. However, the crisis on Korean peninsula will not be solved yet anyway, because Pyongyang promised to return to talks only if all economic sanctions are lifted off North Korea, to which Washington will not agree.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived to Beijing after finishing talks in Tokyo and Seoul, where she was persuading Washington’s allies in bilateral defense alliances to carry out UN’s resolution #1718. The resolution calls for blocking the movement of documents and people related to nuclear and missile technologies across North Korea’s border, and recommends searching North Korean vessels, that arouse suspicion, in neutral waters. On the whole, Rice secured support of the resolution from Tokyo and Seoul.
However, it is important for China to let Washington know that Beijing still has influence over Pyongyang, and that talks with North Korea are still possible. Rice met with Tzyasyuan in China, and he told her that his visit to Pyongyang “was not useless”. Chinese delegate heard from Kim Jong-il that North Korea does not plan new nuclear tests, and promised to return to six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear issue, yet – only if the U.S. make concessions and lift anti-Pyongyang economic and financial sanctions.
China in fact supported North Korea’s demand, seeing that Pyongyang will not return to negotiations until sanctions are removed. Condoleezza Rice, however, assured Chinese top officials that Washington hopes for a peaceful solution of the crisis.
Speaking about the alternative – that is, a military solution, -- the cost might prove too high for Americans. Newsweek magazine published estimations that war against North Korea would cost the U.S. 100,000 killed American soldiers and $100 billion of economic damages. The magazine says it was these estimations that made Bill Clinton’s administration in mid-1990s give up the idea of war and begin negotiations, thus significantly improving US-North Korea relations.
Andrey Ivanov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 21, 2006
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