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US proposing aid in North Korea talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-24 09:03
The United States proposed on Wednesday that North Korea agree to a series of
nuclear disarmament measures over a three-month period in exchange for economic
benefits and an easing of its diplomatic isolation.
The proposal, unveiled at the start of six-nation talks in China, would
ultimately lead to the end of North Korea's nuclear program.
Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, (third from L), leads the way to a meeting room
for chief delegates to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear
issue at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on June 23, 2004.
[Reuters] | It was the most detailed U.S. proposal
for bringing about a diplomatic solution to the North Korea nuclear impasse
since it surfaced almost two years ago.
The United States considers North Korea to be a threat to peace and stability
in Northeast Asia. North Korea has sold missiles to countries such as Iran and
Syria, and the possibility of exports of nuclear weapons technology is a major
concern here.
The United States is being joined at the Beijing talks by China, South Korea,
Japan and Russia in addition to North Korea itself. The American delegation is
headed by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.
During the three-month "preparatory period," North Korea would disable its
nuclear weapons and remove key weapons ingredients.
"The permanent and verifiable dismantlement and removal of North Korea's
nuclear programs would follow," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
During the initial period, the nations in the Beijing talks would be willing
"to ease the political and economic isolation of North Korea," according to the
U.S. proposal.
Outside assistance would focus on deliveries of fuel, particularly from South
Korea.
No lasting benefits would be provided to North Korea until after the
disarmament had been completed, Boucher said. There would be no American
assistance until the later stages of the process.
A North Korean response to the proposal was expected on Thursday, said a
senior administration official, asking not to be identified.
The six parties
meet in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse June 23, 2004 on the nuclear issues
of North Korea. | In the meantime, North Korean
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan offered an alternative, promising to freeze
operations at its main nuclear complex, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported,
citing officials at the conference. The freeze would allow for inspections.
Kim said Pyongyang has been developing nuclear weapons for protection from
possible U.S. attack.
"If the United States gives up its hostile policy toward us ... we are
prepared to give up in a transparent way all plans related to nuclear weapons,"
he said.
Under the U.S. proposal, some form of security guarantees also would be
offered to give North Korea the confidence that disarmament would not trigger an
attack.
North Korea long ago agreed in principle to give up its existing weapons. But
it has refused to accept a U.S. claim that it has two nuclear programs, not just
the plutonium-based project that it has acknowledged.
Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) listens to the opening speeches at the
start of the six-party-talks in Beijing on the nuclear issue of the
Korean Peninsula.[newsphoto] |
The administration says the danger posed by the North Koreans would remain if
they removed the plutonium program while leaving intact a uranium bomb program
that Washington contends it has.
The three-day meeting in Beijing is the third gathering of its kind and the
first since February. The first two rounds yielded little progress.
All along, the United States has demanded the complete, verifiable and
irreversible dismantling of the North's program.
The senior official described the U.S. proposal as a repackaging of the
government's previous stance, mostly to make it more appealing to partners
pushing for a more flexible American approach.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan cited Libya's disarmament earlier this
year as an example that the United States would like North Korea to follow.
North Korea is believed to have two nuclear weapons and the capability to
produce several more. Its missile program offers a weapons delivery vehicle.
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