North Korea Should No Longer Play Dirty Games

Pyongyang has continued to gamble on its nuclear weapons program, testing the patience of the United States, South Korea and other parties to the six-nation talks on North Korea's denuclearization. The communist country is trying to make good on its Aug. 26 decision to stop dismantling its nuclear facilities. Its move is apparently in protest against Washington's failure to remove the North from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism.

Regrettably, the reclusive country has begun the process of moving some equipment removed from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor back to its previous location. This action could be seen as a bid to reactivate the plutonium-producing reactor, although Seoul and Washington showed a difference in interpreting the North's real intention. On Thursday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan expressed his deep regret over the North's move, which he considered designed to restart the reactor.

However, the U.S. side downplayed reports that the North has begun restoring its disabled reactor. U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Thursday that none of the equipment is operational, even though he noted that the North's steps are obviously of concern. The differing views between Seoul and Washington look like a technical problem. More important is that Pyongyang has repeatedly returned to its outdated delaying tactics and brinkmanship to put stronger pressure on their negotiating partners to make more concessions.

Pyongyang had better realize that its anachronistic tactics have already exhausted tolerance of the U.S., South Korea and Japan, whose aim is unequivocally to make North Korea nuclear free. The North's latest threat to reactivate its nuclear facilities is tantamount to nuclear blackmailing. Its continual use of brinkmanship has only helped win the Kim Jong-il regime the status of a nuclear pariah.

It's time for the North to give up its attempt to make irrational claims that the U.S. has not kept its promise to exclude Pyongyang from the terrorism blacklist despite the isolated country's effort for nuclear disarmament. Don't pass the buck to others. The North must recognize its action is none other than a plot to renege on its second-phase denuclearization commitment.

The new standoff has been caused by the North's refusal to present a complete verification protocol aimed at confirming Pyongyang's June declaration of its nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program and proliferation. The North has more to lose than to gain from the deadlock. We urge Pyongyang to come up with a sincere verification framework that will allow outside inspectors to take materials samples, make on-site visits and hold interviews to prove the veracity of the declaration.

North Korean negotiators must keep in mind a firm U.S. position that Washington will not remove the North from the terrorism sponsor list unless Pyongyang agrees to an acceptable verification mechanism. And first of all, the participants in the six-party talks should not give in to the North's nuclear gambling. It's imperative for them to show that the recalcitrant North should pay the price for its dirty games.