Foreign Minister Song Min-soon

By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter

Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Thursday that international efforts to denuclearize North Korea are likely to hit a snag because it is unlikely the North will disable its nuclear facilities and declare a list of all its nuclear programs by the year-end.

``We are truly faced with difficulties in the negotiation for North Korea's denuclearization,'' Song told reporters. ``Before predicting where the denuclearization process will go, we are trying to overcome the obstacle.''

Song said that uranium-based nuclear weapons are the main obstacles for the progress of the six-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

``No country including Korea or the United States uses a term `highly enriched uranium (HEU).''' He said. ``In that sense, parties need more discussion on the scope of uranium enrichment program (UEP). That's why we faced difficulties.''

He added that the declaration process is much slower than the other denuclearization steps.

North Korea is required to complete the disablement and declaration by this month under agreements reached by the six-party talks. In return, it will get economic aid and political concessions such as the normalization of relations with the United States.

As the end of this year nears, Song admitted that the December deadline may not be met, stressing that declaration should be made in a sincere way and parties concerned are exchanging views on the scope of the declaration.

Meanwhile, he refused to confirm a news report that North Korean officials told Christopher Hill, top U.S. negotiator to the nuclear talks, that the communist country has produced 30 kilograms of plutonium so far.

Song said the resolution to North Korea's nuclear problem can't be through a unilateral approach but rather a multilateral one. So the parties to the talks are under discussion for the complete disablement and declaration, he said.

He added he also had discussions on the declaration with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a recent meeting in Paris, and the two Koreas are negotiating on the results of the discussion.

Song's confirmation of difficulties in the denuclearization process came amid a report that North Korea may slow the pace of the denuclearization, blaming delay in the delivery of promised energy aid to the Stalinist country.

``There is a delay in the implementation of economic compensation obligations to be undertaken by other countries in the six-party talks,'' Hyun Hak-bong, deputy director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's American affairs bureau, was quoted as saying Wednesday by Kyodo news agency.

Hyun said that North Korea will take measures to adjust the pace of the disablement of the nuclear facilities.

Under the six-party talks' accords, North Korea will get 450,000 tons of heavy fuel oil and the energy aid equivalent of 500,000 tons of oil by the time it completes disablement and declaration. So far, 150,000 tons of oil and have been delivered to the country.

yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr