Seraphim
06-23-2004, 04:51 PM
By Teruaki Ueno and Saul Hudson
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (*******) - The United States offered North Korea (news - web sites) aid incentives on Wednesday to scrap its suspected nuclear weapons programs after key allies pressed for a way to break a deadlock in six-party negotiations.
There was no formal response from North Korea, which appeared as entrenched as ever and urged the United States to soften its "hostile" stance.
Completing a policy reversal, Washington presented a plan to allow other nations to supply energy aid and said it could consider giving North Korea assurances it would not be attacked, U.S. officials said. It also offered Pyongyang three months to start dismantling its programs, they added.
In return, the communist state must provide a full listing of its nuclear activities, disable some dangerous materials and allow monitoring, senior officials said in outlining the proposal made at the start of six-party talks in Beijing.
The incentives are the first significant, detailed overture to North Korea since President Bush (news - web sites) took office and branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and prewar Iraq (news - web sites).
The plan hinged on North Korea making the strategic decision to abandon its suspected programs -- something it has refused to do during the 20-month crisis.
U.S. officials said they did not expect a response during the talks to a proposal they developed from ideas presented by negotiating partners, South Korea (news - web sites), Japan, Russia and China.
Previously, the United States had said North Korea should not be rewarded for moving to scrap its programs because its nuclear development was in violation of agreements Pyongyang had signed in the 1990s. Washington believes North Korea has at least two nuclear bombs.
Wednesday's proposal completes a shift started earlier this year when the United States first said it would not oppose other countries supplying energy to North Korea.
ELECTION-YEAR TALKS
There have been two previous rounds of senior-level talks but progress has been glacial, and few have expected major breakthroughs at the third round.
Japan pressed for progress warning "the credibility of the six-party process itself" was at stake if none was made this time.
Many political analysts believe North Korea will wait until after the U.S. presidential election in November before seriously considering scrapping its programs and that Bush will not push too hard for fear of provoking a showdown during his re-election campaign.
It was unclear how the plan would be received by the unpredictable North, which unleashed a characteristic barrage of anti-U.S. rhetoric before the talks.
"No positive results can be expected from the third round of the six-party talks if the U.S. again raises its old brigandish demand at the talks that will start today," North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.
North Korea's chief negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, said Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear weapons program if the United States dropped its "hostile policy" toward the North, a refrain from previous rounds.
"The U.S. proposal is very complicated and North Korea is going to need time to analyze it," South Korean negotiator Lee Soo-hyuck told reporters.
The U.S. plan drew on a similar framework the United States has used with Libya. Last year, Libya committed to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and has since won economic and diplomatic rewards as it has moved toward that goal.
"Good faith action on North Korea's part will be met with good faith response by the other parties," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, referring to what he called the "Libya model."
If North Korea were to make a Libya-like pledge, South Korea could immediately give the energy-starved country fuel oil, a senior Bush administration said in Washington.
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Steve Holland, Benjamin Kang Lim and Godwin Chellam)
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (*******) - The United States offered North Korea (news - web sites) aid incentives on Wednesday to scrap its suspected nuclear weapons programs after key allies pressed for a way to break a deadlock in six-party negotiations.
There was no formal response from North Korea, which appeared as entrenched as ever and urged the United States to soften its "hostile" stance.
Completing a policy reversal, Washington presented a plan to allow other nations to supply energy aid and said it could consider giving North Korea assurances it would not be attacked, U.S. officials said. It also offered Pyongyang three months to start dismantling its programs, they added.
In return, the communist state must provide a full listing of its nuclear activities, disable some dangerous materials and allow monitoring, senior officials said in outlining the proposal made at the start of six-party talks in Beijing.
The incentives are the first significant, detailed overture to North Korea since President Bush (news - web sites) took office and branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and prewar Iraq (news - web sites).
The plan hinged on North Korea making the strategic decision to abandon its suspected programs -- something it has refused to do during the 20-month crisis.
U.S. officials said they did not expect a response during the talks to a proposal they developed from ideas presented by negotiating partners, South Korea (news - web sites), Japan, Russia and China.
Previously, the United States had said North Korea should not be rewarded for moving to scrap its programs because its nuclear development was in violation of agreements Pyongyang had signed in the 1990s. Washington believes North Korea has at least two nuclear bombs.
Wednesday's proposal completes a shift started earlier this year when the United States first said it would not oppose other countries supplying energy to North Korea.
ELECTION-YEAR TALKS
There have been two previous rounds of senior-level talks but progress has been glacial, and few have expected major breakthroughs at the third round.
Japan pressed for progress warning "the credibility of the six-party process itself" was at stake if none was made this time.
Many political analysts believe North Korea will wait until after the U.S. presidential election in November before seriously considering scrapping its programs and that Bush will not push too hard for fear of provoking a showdown during his re-election campaign.
It was unclear how the plan would be received by the unpredictable North, which unleashed a characteristic barrage of anti-U.S. rhetoric before the talks.
"No positive results can be expected from the third round of the six-party talks if the U.S. again raises its old brigandish demand at the talks that will start today," North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.
North Korea's chief negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, said Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear weapons program if the United States dropped its "hostile policy" toward the North, a refrain from previous rounds.
"The U.S. proposal is very complicated and North Korea is going to need time to analyze it," South Korean negotiator Lee Soo-hyuck told reporters.
The U.S. plan drew on a similar framework the United States has used with Libya. Last year, Libya committed to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and has since won economic and diplomatic rewards as it has moved toward that goal.
"Good faith action on North Korea's part will be met with good faith response by the other parties," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, referring to what he called the "Libya model."
If North Korea were to make a Libya-like pledge, South Korea could immediately give the energy-starved country fuel oil, a senior Bush administration said in Washington.
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Steve Holland, Benjamin Kang Lim and Godwin Chellam)