Seraphim
08-28-2003, 03:08 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20030828/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear_60
By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - North Korea (news - web sites) told a six-nation conference that it has nuclear weapons and has plans to test one, a U.S. official said Thursday. However, other participants said delegates agreed on the need for a second round of talks.
The remarks by North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il set a negative tone at the conference and raised questions about the success of the negotiations, which were scheduled to conclude Friday morning.
Kim at one point accused delegates from Russia and Japan of lying at the instruction of the United States when they tried to point out positive aspects of the American presentation, according to a U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Kim said the North intends to formally declare it has nuclear weapons, has the ability to deliver them, and intends to conduct a test, the U.S. official said.
The North Korean said his country was maintaining its position because the United States clearly had no intention of abandoning its hostile policy toward North Korea, the official said.
The statements, coming on the second day of a three-day conference, startled the delegates and left the Chinese representative visibly angry, the official said.
Nevertheless, the diplomats agreed on the need to hold more such talks and probably will, a South Korean official said.
The current round of talks are scheduled to end Friday after three days. The United States, North and South Korea (news - web sites), Russia, Japan and China are trying to balance U.S. demands for an end to North Korea's nuclear program and the communist nation's insistence on a nonaggression treaty with Washington and humanitarian aid.
"There is a consensus that the process of six-party talks should continue and is useful," said Wie Sung-rak, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau. Like other delegates from the talks, he chose his words carefully to avoid suggesting a formal agreement had been made.
Asked to verify a Russian media report that all six would meet again within two months, he said: "It's possible, but you have to wait until tomorrow morning."
Russian Alexander Losyukov, the deputy foreign minister and the head of Russia's delegation, earlier had said the six reached a "common understanding" to meet again within the next two months, probably in Beijing, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
The United States said it would hold no formal one-on-one talks with North Korea at the three-day summit and the Americans played down the importance of an informal meeting Wednesday between the top U.S. and North Korean envoys on the sidelines of the talks.
That half-hour meeting between Kim and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly ended four months of official silence between the two nations.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing said "there will not be any separate formal bilateral meetings with the North Koreans." The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang had long demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but dropped its objections to the multilateral arrangement after Beijing agreed to host it.
Many believe North Korea wanted such direct talks to increase its standing in East Asia and to convey its demands directly to the United States. Washington, though, wanted the opposite and said the situation affected the entire region and should be dealt with multilaterally.
The three-day summit came together after months of political maneuvering when China — political ally of North Korea and economic partner of the United States — agreed to be the host. The six-party talks are a continuation of discussions from April, when U.S., Chinese and North Korean officials met in Beijing.
Tensions and hostilities have been escalating since October, when Pyongyang acknowledged — to Kelly himself — that it restarted a nuclear program it had supposedly shut down. The United States has demanded that North Korea stop the program immediately, while the impoverished North has refused to budge without guarantees of security and economic aid.
U.S. officials say they believe North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months.
In a separate meeting after Thursday's talks adjourned, Japan urged North Korea to let the children of five Japanese citizens kidnapped and spirited to North Korea years ago join their parents, who were permitted last year to return to their homeland.
North Korea, however, reiterated its assertion that Japan had broken a promise by not returning the five abductees to Pyongyang, according to a statement by the Japanese government.
The kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea — to train its spies to assume false identities — has stalled efforts by the two countries to set up diplomatic relations and halted Japan's food aid to impoverished North Korea.
Delegates from the North and South also got together after the talks ended Wednesday, meeting for a half-hour, said Shin Bong-kil, spokesman for the South Korean delegation.
The Koreas were divided in 1945 and share a heavily fortified border. The 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.
By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - North Korea (news - web sites) told a six-nation conference that it has nuclear weapons and has plans to test one, a U.S. official said Thursday. However, other participants said delegates agreed on the need for a second round of talks.
The remarks by North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il set a negative tone at the conference and raised questions about the success of the negotiations, which were scheduled to conclude Friday morning.
Kim at one point accused delegates from Russia and Japan of lying at the instruction of the United States when they tried to point out positive aspects of the American presentation, according to a U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Kim said the North intends to formally declare it has nuclear weapons, has the ability to deliver them, and intends to conduct a test, the U.S. official said.
The North Korean said his country was maintaining its position because the United States clearly had no intention of abandoning its hostile policy toward North Korea, the official said.
The statements, coming on the second day of a three-day conference, startled the delegates and left the Chinese representative visibly angry, the official said.
Nevertheless, the diplomats agreed on the need to hold more such talks and probably will, a South Korean official said.
The current round of talks are scheduled to end Friday after three days. The United States, North and South Korea (news - web sites), Russia, Japan and China are trying to balance U.S. demands for an end to North Korea's nuclear program and the communist nation's insistence on a nonaggression treaty with Washington and humanitarian aid.
"There is a consensus that the process of six-party talks should continue and is useful," said Wie Sung-rak, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau. Like other delegates from the talks, he chose his words carefully to avoid suggesting a formal agreement had been made.
Asked to verify a Russian media report that all six would meet again within two months, he said: "It's possible, but you have to wait until tomorrow morning."
Russian Alexander Losyukov, the deputy foreign minister and the head of Russia's delegation, earlier had said the six reached a "common understanding" to meet again within the next two months, probably in Beijing, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
The United States said it would hold no formal one-on-one talks with North Korea at the three-day summit and the Americans played down the importance of an informal meeting Wednesday between the top U.S. and North Korean envoys on the sidelines of the talks.
That half-hour meeting between Kim and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly ended four months of official silence between the two nations.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing said "there will not be any separate formal bilateral meetings with the North Koreans." The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang had long demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but dropped its objections to the multilateral arrangement after Beijing agreed to host it.
Many believe North Korea wanted such direct talks to increase its standing in East Asia and to convey its demands directly to the United States. Washington, though, wanted the opposite and said the situation affected the entire region and should be dealt with multilaterally.
The three-day summit came together after months of political maneuvering when China — political ally of North Korea and economic partner of the United States — agreed to be the host. The six-party talks are a continuation of discussions from April, when U.S., Chinese and North Korean officials met in Beijing.
Tensions and hostilities have been escalating since October, when Pyongyang acknowledged — to Kelly himself — that it restarted a nuclear program it had supposedly shut down. The United States has demanded that North Korea stop the program immediately, while the impoverished North has refused to budge without guarantees of security and economic aid.
U.S. officials say they believe North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months.
In a separate meeting after Thursday's talks adjourned, Japan urged North Korea to let the children of five Japanese citizens kidnapped and spirited to North Korea years ago join their parents, who were permitted last year to return to their homeland.
North Korea, however, reiterated its assertion that Japan had broken a promise by not returning the five abductees to Pyongyang, according to a statement by the Japanese government.
The kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s by North Korea — to train its spies to assume false identities — has stalled efforts by the two countries to set up diplomatic relations and halted Japan's food aid to impoverished North Korea.
Delegates from the North and South also got together after the talks ended Wednesday, meeting for a half-hour, said Shin Bong-kil, spokesman for the South Korean delegation.
The Koreas were divided in 1945 and share a heavily fortified border. The 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.