Diplomacy picks up on N. Korea
By Kim Young-jin
Envoys from the United States and North Korea met Wednesday in Beijing to discuss a food aid deal amid a spate of diplomacy over how to resume regional six-party talks on denuclearizing the impoverished state.
Meanwhile, Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam departed for New York to attend a security conference at which his North Korean counterpart Ri Young-ho was also slated to participate.
Speculation was rampant that Lim and Ri could meet on the sidelines of the Syracuse University event on Wednesday (local time) to discuss the issues of denuclearization and inter-Korean talks.
The events follow the announcement of a U.S.-North Korea deal last week under which Pyongyang agreed to a United Nations-monitored shutdown of its uranium enrichment program (UEP) at Yongbyon in exchange for nutritional assistance and other considerations.
Officials say the deal builds momentum for the eventual resumption of six-party talks that also include Japan, Russia and China.
Robert King, the U.S. envoy on human rights in North Korea, said upon arriving in Beijing that he would meet with a counterpart to discuss how the 240,000 tons of assistance – which targets vulnerable groups such as children – would be distributed, reports said.
Details on the meeting were not immediately available.
Before the talks, King said the assistance program was “complicated” and that the sides would “work out the details in terms of how we are going to carry that program out," AFP reported.
Washington and Seoul have been cautious about delivering food to the communist state amid widespread suspicions such aid is diverted to the military or stockpiled for the elite.
The North walked away from the regional denuclearization-for-aid framework in 2009 after being slapped with sanctions for its nuclear tests. After a period of high tensions marked by two deadly attacks in 2010, Pyongyang signaled its willingness to return to the table.
The death of longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in December threw the food deal into limbo but the North’s regime, led by Kim’s youngest son Jong-un, agreed to the terms ― which also include a moratorium on nuclear testing ― late last month.
Still, most analysts are skeptical over whether Pyongyang will relinquish the nuclear weapons program that the regime likely sees as its primary means of survival.
Commercial satellite imagery released this week by a U.S. think tank shows the North has made progress on a light-water reactor (LWR) at the Yongbyon plant.
The Feb. 3 image courtesy of the Institute for Science and International Security shows that the reactor’s turbine appeared externally complete, showing progress from images released in September. The dome of the building has yet to be placed atop the structure.
The North unveiled both the LWR and UEP in November 2010, sparking concerns that the completion of the project could allow Pyongyang to claim it is operating the UEP to fuel the reactor while secretly producing uranium for nuclear weapons.
Officials here have said steps remain before any resumption of the six-party talks including an improvement in inter-Korean relations and talks between the North and the U.N.’s atomic watchdog over how to monitor the UEP shutdown.
In New York, nuclear envoys Lim and Ri plan to stay at the same hotel, the Millennium Plaza. Seoul officials did not rule out a meeting on the sidelines of the event, which is hosted by James Steinberg, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state.