Talks begin on Pyongyang dilemma
US, Japanese, and South Korean delegates held preliminary talks on North Korea’s nuclear development in Washington on Wednesday, ahead of the six-party talks later this month.
The Washington talks, due to last two-days, will lay out the groundwork, ahead of main discussions, reportedly to take place in Beijing, China, starting on August 27.
Representatives from both Koreas, Japan, China and Russia are expected to attend.
The crisis on the peninsula escalated last year after North Korea restarted a nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, which effectively spelled the end of its commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Yesterday in Washington, US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelley, Mitoji Yabunaka of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, and South Korean Deputy Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Lee Su Hyok discussed diplomatic solutions to the nuclear threat on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea sits awkwardly on US President Bush’s “axis of evil,” alongside Iraq and Iran.
The US is reportedly mulling over a non-aggression pact with Pyongyang and considering “carrot and stick” economic incentives to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table, including an end to a long-standing trade embargo.
But US Secretary of Colin Powell downplayed the suggestion publicly, saying: “We have put no economic proposals forward at the moment.”
Should the US decline the proposal, Russia may step in with a six-way agreement guaranteeing North Korea’s security.
Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov met with North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kung Sok-ung and South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jae-sup in Moscow on Wednesday.
Mr Losyukov said there was little ground for optimism at present, given the sizeable difference of opinion on nuclear deterrence, adding there was an “abyss of distrust” between Pyongyang and Washington.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) wants the US to officially change its hostile stance against the reclusive communist state in exchange for ending its nuclear arms programme.
