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Day 2: S. Korea proposal dominates talks on nuke issue
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-26 11:37
South Korea's proposal for a three-stage end to Pyongyang's nuclear programs
on Thursday dominated a second day of six-way talks marked by conciliatory
rhetoric but starkly differing positions.
No signs emerged of any breakthrough from a rare one-on-one meeting between
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korea's negotiator,
Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, on the sidelines of the talks on
Wednesday.
Host China said some consensus emerged after the first day of talks, a result
of six months of delicate diplomacy after an inconclusive first round last
August.
The rhetoric was conciliatory at the opening meetings, which provided a
chance for the parties -- China, the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and
Russia -- to lay out their positions on Pyongyang's atomic ambitions that may
have already resulted in the creation of two nuclear bombs.
But stark differences remained as the talks got under way. U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly said nothing as he left his hotel for the talks.
The two protagonists -- Washington and Pyongyang -- clung to opposing
positions on the issue of North Korea's suspected uranium enrichment program for
nuclear bombs, which Pyongyang denies.
Kelly insisted on the irreversible, verifiable dismantling of all North
Korea's atomic arms programs, but said Washington did not intend to attack the
country it has branded part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and pre-war Iraq.
Asked if there had been any agreement after the first day of talks, Kelly
told Reuters late on Wednesday: "Oh no, we are still hard at work."
An editorial in the China Daily newspaper was cautious. "It may be too early
to expect a breakthrough from the new round of talks. But that the position of
each party is clearer is positive," it said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told the envoys at a banquet on
Wednesday night they should "not allow differences to impede the process of the
dialogue, even divert the direction of seeking political solution to the
problem," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington the opening
session had been useful and he confirmed the hour-long afternoon meeting with
the North Koreans.
"I think the purpose of side meetings at talks like this is to try to discuss
the elements of the bigger discussion and try to look for what the parties that
are talking on the side can do to make progress in those discussions in the more
formal sessions," he said.
South Korea's delegate to the talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee soo-hyuck,
told reporters Thursday's talks would focus on the three-phase proposal for
resolving the impasse that he proposed on Wednesday.
Under the plan, the North would pledge its intention to dismantle its nuclear
programs and other countries would meet its security concerns. The second phase
would be implementation and the third would address other outstanding issues.
The nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002 when U.S. officials said North
Korea had admitted to a covert program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.
The North has since denied such a scheme, but it has offered to freeze a
plutonium-based program that it reactivated when it pulled out of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty last year.
North Korea said on Wednesday it hoped the talks would create "a positive
result" and narrow the gap with Washington.
But it has warned that any attempt to raise the "purely fictitious" uranium
issue would prolong the crisis.
North Korea has said it could freeze its program in return for compensation.
The Bush administration, facing an election this year, says it will not reward
the country for bad behavior.
The New York Times said South Korea would offer the North economic aid in
return for a pledge to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons
facility.
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