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Pyongyang to Resume Nuke Talks
Beijing Breakthrough
Parties in North Korean nuclear talks have started preparing for a new round which became a distant prospect after Pyongyang had held nuclear tests on October 9. U.S.-Chinese-North Korean consultations in Beijing on Monday opened the door for the continuation of the dialogue.
The U.S.-North Korean meeting under the auspices of China in Beijing on Monday brought a real breakthrough. A few hours before the meeting, North Korean papers published articles predicting “full annihilation” for U.S. armed forces in case it tries to start a new war on the Korean peninsula.
Beijing reported Monday afternoon that Christopher Hill, head of the U.S. delegation in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, had held a successful meeting with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in the Chinese capital. Kim Kye-gwan said North Korea is ready to resume six-party talks. Pyongyang had repeatedly declared that it would not take part in any negotiations until the United States lifts sanctions introduced last fall against a number of North Korean companies and banks, which cut down a foreign currency flow to the country. To push Washington to lift the sanctions and mitigate the overall policy towards North Korea, Pyongyang launched missiles of different ranges in July. The missile demonstration was followed by a nuke test on October 9. The United States, however, did not lift sanctions but pushed though a UN Security Council resolution with new sanction against North Korea. Relations between Pyongyang and Washington became as strained as ever. Rumors appeared that even China, the chief mediators between North Korea and the Unites States, had lost its influence over Pyongyang.
Yet, Chinese diplomats have just shown they are nowhere near to retirement. Beijing has managed to set an American-North Korean meeting. Other parties in the talks were informed about it beforehand while the public learnt about it only after the meeting ended with a breakthrough.
“North Korea has evidently reacted to signals from China and other countries,” U.S. Department of State Spokesman Tom Casey commented on results of the Beijing meeting. He thanked China for its ongoing diplomatic efforts. Beijing has managed to convince North Korea to resume six-party talks without any conditions such as lifting sanctions or holding bilateral negotiations with the United States. Most likely, China’s arguments sounded all the more convincing after the country had suspended crude oil supplies to North Korea.
Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Moscow have welcomed Pyongyang’s decision to resume talks and already started preparations, hoping to hold negotiations before the end of the year. The Russian president and South Korean Foreign Minister and future UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon discussed the issue at a meeting in Moscow yesterday.
Experts, however, prefer not to make any forecasts on the outcome of the six-party talks because positions of the parties may change drastically. The United States and Japan said Wednesday they would not lift sanctions. Christopher Hill also admitted that the North Koreans had not promised him to abstain from any new nuclear tests. Pyongyang confirmed, however, that it is ready to give up its nuclear weapon ambitions in exchange for security and economic aid guarantees. So, there is a point to start the talks with.
Andrey Ivanov
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