Time for NK to take action toward denuclearization

By Kim Young-jin

Staff reporter

With North Korea signaling a return to diplomatic engagement after its attack in March of a South Korean warship, hopes are high that resumption of the six-party talks on its denuclearization could be close at hand.

The speculation sparked up when Pyongyang stated its desire to return to negotiations after a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) statement fell short of directly blaming it for the deadly sinking.

But with Seoul and Washington skeptical over its commitment to the talks, Pyongyang must take clear steps on its nuclear program to prove it is ready to reengage with the international community, a North Korea expert said Tuesday.

"I think it is positive that North Korea has reaffirmed its willingness to commit to denuclearization," Scott Snyder, head of the Asia Foundation's Center for U.S.-Korea Policy in Washington, D.C., told The Korea Times via email. "But it will take actions, not declarations, to convince the other parties of North Korea's sincerity."

Analysts say doubt among the other members - Seoul, Washington, Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow - is only natural as Pyongyang's recent willingness to talk fits perfectly with the pattern of brinksmanship and acquiescence it has used to win aid in the past.

But Snyder said the North has a myriad of options to assuage such concerns and kick-start the denuclearization-for-aid talks at a time when its economy has been hobbled by U.N. sanctions.

According to the expert, the "first and easiest step" the North might take would be inviting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors back to its Yongbyon plant.

The inspectors were kicked out of the North's major nuclear facility in 2008 and nuclear activities there reportedly picked up again last spring.

Snyder said it can also send a positive message by showing it is willing to come into full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it walked away from in 2003 amid rumors it was reprocessing plutonium.

Finally, Pyongyang can reaffirm the "action for action" principle of the talks under which the other members only take steps to fulfill their commitments in response to corollary actions by the North.

Snyder said the talks could also provide an important opportunity for the other members to mend relations damaged by wrangling in the aftermath of the sinking.

China and Russia, permanent members of the UNSC with ties to the North, thwarted efforts at the Security Council to censure the North for the sinking.

China, in particular, drew ire with its prolonged silence in the wake of the attack and stately hosting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in early May.

"The Cheonan issue has influenced relations with China, but these issues will not determine when the parties come back to dialogue," Snyder said. "Rather, the process of returning to dialogue itself might prove to be a constructive means by which to deal with these issues."

The intermittent talks began in 2003 to coax the North to abandon its weapons program and rejoin to the NPT in return for food and energy assistance and the negotiation of a peace treaty on the peninsula.

But the North walked away last spring from the negotiations after being slapped with U.N. sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.

Speculation was high over Pyongyang's imminent return until March 26, when the Cheonan was torpedoed in the West Sea, killing 46 seamen and throwing all prospects for resumption of the negotiations into limbo.