North Korea negotiations end without agreement
BEIJING – A week of negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program ended in failure Friday, raising questions about the future of the Chinese-sponsored six-party talks.
The Chinese chief negotiator and host, Wu Dawei, said diplomats from all six nations reaffirmed in principle a denuclearization agreement reached in September 2005 and pledged to reconvene after consulting with their governments. But he had no progress to report after five days of negotiations during which participants said North Korea’s representatives refused to engage on the nuclear issue.
“Alas, by the end of the week it was very clear the DPRK negotiating team did not have the instructions it needed to go forward,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator, using initials for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
He added, “When you come to a negotiation, you ought to be prepared to negotiate.”
Hill sought to put the best face on the outcome, calling the halt a “Christmas recess.” He said a major side benefit of the negotiations was a drawing together of U.S. and Chinese diplomats as they worked hand in hand to urge North Korea to budge.
But he acknowledged that he and senior Bush administration officials will be reviewing the six-party process in light of the stalemate here, and he said a swift resumption with the promise of progress would be necessary to maintain Washington’s support of the negotiations.
“We can’t go another 13 months,” Hill said, referring to the hiatus between this week and a previous round of talks. “We can’t sustain the political support without some progress.”
The Japanese chief negotiator, Kenichiro Sasae, suggested the utility of continuing the talks likely will come into question in light of the North Korean stance this week. The negotiations – involving the United States, Japan, Russia, China and the two Koreas – have been under way sporadically since 2003, during which time North Korea has continued producing weapons-grade plutonium and working to build nuclear weapons. In October, North Korea tested a nuclear device in a remote underground facility about 240 miles northeast of the capital, Pyongyang.
In statements leading up to this round of talks, North Korea said it would negotiate on its nuclear weapons program only after the lifting of restrictions imposed on several North Korean accounts at Macau’s Banco Delta Asia. U.S. officials have said the accounts were being used to get counterfeit $100 bills and drug money into the financial system.
A Treasury Department team met Tuesday and Wednesday with North Korean banking officials. After preliminary contacts, they decided to continue talks in New York next month. But North Korean nuclear negotiators, meanwhile, said the Banco Delta Asia problem must be resolved before they could begin official talks on carrying out the September 2005 denuclearization agreement.