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| A satellite image taken by DigitalGlobe on Aug. 31 shows white smoke billowing from a building near the 5-megawatt reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex. Korea Times file |
By Chung Min-uck
Another dark cloud has been cast over the reopening of the long-stalled six-party talks that aim at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
According to an Aug. 31 satellite imagery of a U.S. think tank, Wednesday, North Korea has restarted operations of its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor in its Yongbyon facility.
Regarding the report, the U.S. State Department castigated North Korea Thursday saying if reactivation is true it would be a "violation of the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions" and its commitments made under its Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement between the six-party nations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that it is keeping a close eye while following-up on the situation.
Affected by North Korea's attitude, diplomatic sources say Seoul and Washington are not planning to send any government officials to the informal six-party meeting suggested earlier by Beijing.
The two allies both hold the position that Pyongyang must demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization through actions before resuming six-party talks.
Experts say if the report is confirmed true, it would water down Beijing's ongoing effort to engage in talks to resolve North Korea's nuclear problem, negatively impacting the possible resumption of the multilateral forum.
"I don't know whether Pyongyang consulted with Beijing before restarting the nuclear reactor, but either way China is put in a difficult position in discussion with Washington and Seoul," said Paik Hak-soon, a researcher at the Sejong Institute.
China and North Korea have recently kept in step with each other, urging the resumption of the six-party forum.
During a summit held on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Russia last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that China wanted to reopen the six-party talks as soon as possible.
Wang Guangzhong, deputy chief of general staff at China's People's Liberation Army, upon talks with James Miller, U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, Friday, also said, "All relevant parties need to take note of active change by North Korea," calling for engagement.
In line with Beijing's stance, the North also undertook a series of reconciliatory gestures recently, which occurred after it stoked tensions early this year by conducting its third nuclear test on Feb. 12.
Despite Beijing's efforts for an early resumption of the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, Seoul and Washington have insisted that they won't sit down with Pyongyang until the North demonstrates its seriousness about denuclearization.
The disarmament talks started in 2003 but have been stalled since late 2008 after North Korea walked out to protest the U.N.'s condemnations concerning a banned rocket launch.
Meanwhile, the North's move to restart its nuclear reactor is seen as sending a message to Washington that it wants to engage in talks.
"Historically, the U.S. came forward to the negotiation table with the North after the latter played the nuclear card," said Paik. "Reactions from Washington now come after a longer period of time, but the North still thinks it is the only way to approach Washington."
But many experts say the recent plutonium production in Yongbyon is not significant enough to move the U.S. to engage with the North.
"We have been expecting such activities from North Korea," said a foreign ministry official. "Our current position already includes such nuclear activities taken up by Pyongyang."
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