Seraphim
06-26-2004, 03:30 PM
By Jack Kim and Teruaki Ueno
BEIJING (*******) - The United States and North Korea (news - web sites) were as far apart as ever on Saturday after nuclear crisis talks, with Washington insisting Pyongyang disclose its uranium enrichment program.
The communist North denies such a program, the issue that triggered a crisis 20 months ago and led to three rounds of inconclusive six-nation talks in Beijing.
The third round closed with agreement to meet again before the end of September and a pledge to take the first steps to resolve the crisis "as soon as possible." Working (news - web sites)-level talks would be held in late July, Russia's envoy to the talks said.
China's chief negotiator, Wang Yi, said the main gap was between the United States and North Korea.
"There are serious differences between the two sides over the uranium enrichment program," Wang told a news conference.
The parties had agreed that a freeze of the North's nuclear activities should be a first step, he said.
North Korea stressed its readiness to freeze plutonium-based nuclear facilities but refused to accept the U.S. demand that it admit to having a uranium enrichment program, which can be used for making bombs, a diplomatic source in Beijing said.
North Korea also rejected proposals by the United States and Japan to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to inspect its nuclear facilities for verification. The source said Pyongyang had demanded a "different form of inspection."
U.S. OVERTURE
North Korea pulled out of international agreements on non-proliferation and threw out IAEA inspectors just weeks after the crisis erupted in October 2002, when U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted to a clandestine nuclear program.
It also reactivated its mothballed atomic plant at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.
The discussions in Beijing were buoyed at the outset by the first detailed U.S. proposal. It offered Pyongyang security guarantees and South Korean aid in return for North Korea agreeing to fully dismantle its nuclear programs.
The U.S. overture was its first detailed proposal since President Bush (news - web sites) took office and labeled the reclusive North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq (news - web sites).
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he hoped North Korea would respond positively to the offer.
"I have always been saying you need to offer North Korea security guarantees and you have to offer economic assistance.
"But North Korea also has to understand that they need to make a firm commitment to completely abandoning any weapons program and accepting full verification," he added.
At a European Union (news - web sites)-U.S. summit in Ireland, President Bush and European leaders called for the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement" of Pyongyang's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said North Korea's proposal to freeze its plutonium-based nuclear facilities "could be a first practical step toward a settlement."
"The main thing is to keep the negotiating process going in order to find a compromise," he told Itar-Tass news agency.
Analysts described the talks as having made modest progress, mainly because the United States appeared more flexible.
"That both the United States and North Korea are calling the proposals 'constructive' is something," said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at Radiopress News Agency in Tokyo.
"But North Korea mainly wants to resolve things that can be seen with the eyes, like the Yongbyon plant, while the United States is more interested in things such as the North's uranium program. So there's still a gap," Suzuki said.
BEIJING (*******) - The United States and North Korea (news - web sites) were as far apart as ever on Saturday after nuclear crisis talks, with Washington insisting Pyongyang disclose its uranium enrichment program.
The communist North denies such a program, the issue that triggered a crisis 20 months ago and led to three rounds of inconclusive six-nation talks in Beijing.
The third round closed with agreement to meet again before the end of September and a pledge to take the first steps to resolve the crisis "as soon as possible." Working (news - web sites)-level talks would be held in late July, Russia's envoy to the talks said.
China's chief negotiator, Wang Yi, said the main gap was between the United States and North Korea.
"There are serious differences between the two sides over the uranium enrichment program," Wang told a news conference.
The parties had agreed that a freeze of the North's nuclear activities should be a first step, he said.
North Korea stressed its readiness to freeze plutonium-based nuclear facilities but refused to accept the U.S. demand that it admit to having a uranium enrichment program, which can be used for making bombs, a diplomatic source in Beijing said.
North Korea also rejected proposals by the United States and Japan to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to inspect its nuclear facilities for verification. The source said Pyongyang had demanded a "different form of inspection."
U.S. OVERTURE
North Korea pulled out of international agreements on non-proliferation and threw out IAEA inspectors just weeks after the crisis erupted in October 2002, when U.S. officials said Pyongyang had admitted to a clandestine nuclear program.
It also reactivated its mothballed atomic plant at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.
The discussions in Beijing were buoyed at the outset by the first detailed U.S. proposal. It offered Pyongyang security guarantees and South Korean aid in return for North Korea agreeing to fully dismantle its nuclear programs.
The U.S. overture was its first detailed proposal since President Bush (news - web sites) took office and labeled the reclusive North part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq (news - web sites).
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he hoped North Korea would respond positively to the offer.
"I have always been saying you need to offer North Korea security guarantees and you have to offer economic assistance.
"But North Korea also has to understand that they need to make a firm commitment to completely abandoning any weapons program and accepting full verification," he added.
At a European Union (news - web sites)-U.S. summit in Ireland, President Bush and European leaders called for the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement" of Pyongyang's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said North Korea's proposal to freeze its plutonium-based nuclear facilities "could be a first practical step toward a settlement."
"The main thing is to keep the negotiating process going in order to find a compromise," he told Itar-Tass news agency.
Analysts described the talks as having made modest progress, mainly because the United States appeared more flexible.
"That both the United States and North Korea are calling the proposals 'constructive' is something," said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at Radiopress News Agency in Tokyo.
"But North Korea mainly wants to resolve things that can be seen with the eyes, like the Yongbyon plant, while the United States is more interested in things such as the North's uranium program. So there's still a gap," Suzuki said.