Next Step Is Disabling of NK Nukes
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Following the North Korean announcement that it had started to shut down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, the next step is disabling them, according to a senior North Korean diplomat.
Kim Myong-gil, minister for political affairs at the North's mission to the United Nations said in an interview with the Voice of America, Sunday, that the next step for the North was to completely disable the nuclear facilities.
The North's declaration of its shutdown is adding fresh momentum to the multilateral talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and to establishing a peace system on the Korean Peninsula.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Song Min-soon stressed last week that denuclearization and a peace treaty on the peninsula must go together, so the shutdown is understood as a step forward for both ends.
Regarding the denuclearization, the six-party talks between the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan slated for Wednesday in Beijing will discuss the next phase after the shutdown.
Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator to the talks, arrived in Seoul Sunday evening and will discuss ways of disabling the nuclear facilities with his Korean counterpart Chun Young-woo, today.
The next most important items on the talks agenda are the total verification of North Korea's nuclear programs, including an alleged uranium-based one, and the provision of 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, or the equivalent in aid to North Korea under an agreement reached in February.
``The most important task is to quickly and efficiently implement the disablement beyond the shutdown of the nuclear facilities,'' a government official said.
Along with the denuclearization, the establishment of a peace system is also moving fast.
Song said the peace system on the peninsula would include the normalization of relations between Washington and Pyongyang.
Against this backdrop, Hill, who is scheduled to fly to China Tuesday morning, will likely meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan in Beijing for talks on this topic.
The outcome of the upcoming six-party talks will also determine when foreign ministers of the six nations will meet as this is considered a follow-up measure for establishing peace.
The foreign ministers were initially expected to meet late this month, but are reportedly considering meeting on the sidelines of the Asian Regional Forum (ARF) slated for early August in the Philippines.
One of the scenarios regarding peace is that the foreign ministers' meeting, if successful, will ultimately lead the United States and North Korea to officially declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which was halted by an armistice.
North Korea's request to have bilateral military talks with the United States on peace on the peninsula last Friday is in line with this scenario. As North Korea has long called for replacing the ceasefire with a permanent peace treaty, the bilateral meeting _ excluding South Korea _ within the multilateral form will help.
Song also said that the war could be officially terminated when the relevant countries agree.