By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Members of the six-party talks, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions, have given a green light for the two Koreas' summit from Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang, after negotiators reached an agreement in Beijing, Sunday.
President Roh Moo-hyun, who was being pressured to get a denuclearization timeline from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the summit, can now feel free to focus on other items, said observers.
They noted that Roh would have only got national support for the summit by successfully persuading Kim to promise that North Korea will disable their nuclear facilities by the end of this year.
Envoys from the six nations produced a joint statement, which contains the timetable for North Korea to follow toward denuclearization, and they expressed optimism for the statement to be adopted.
If the talks had failed to produce any statement, Roh would have had to bring the disablement deadline issue to the summit table, which would have made the summit atmosphere difficult.
Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's top negotiator to the talks, said, ``The deadline for North Korea to declare (its nuclear program) and disable (its nuclear facilities) is written in the statement.''
Chun said that the talks would take a two-day recess so that the six governments can have time to assess the statement and approve it.
According to sources, the deadline was set for the end of this year according to a United States proposed timeline.
U.S. top negotiator Christopher Hill said the joint statement was comprehensive, full of details and useful, and hoped it would be adopted by all parties involved. The talks involved the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
Roh's agenda with Kim was to be finalized after the six-party talks adopted the joint statement as scheduled. The adoption, if realized, will encourage Roh to discuss further steps for denuclearization with Kim as well as other issues such as inter-Korean economic cooperation.
``As the six nations agreed to a statement on disablement, the tension on the Korean Peninsula will be much eased with the combined effect of the denuclearization process from the six-party talks and the inter-Korean summit,'' a government official said on condition of anonymity.
Roh had said that the main agenda of the summit was not denuclearization but a peace system on the Korean Peninsula. He said last month that he would suggest a peace declaration because it was the main item on the summit agenda.
The outcome of the six-party talks will help Roh focus on the peace system rather than the denuclearization.
North Korea shut down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon in July as a first step toward denuclearization under an accord reached at six-party talks on Feb. 13, 2007. As a second phase, North Korea is to disable the facilities and declare all of its nuclear programs.
In return, the Stalinist country will receive one million tons of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent.