Allies agree to start verifying N.K. nuke declaration by March

South Korea, the United States and Japan yesterday agreed to finalize the disablement of North Korean nuclear facilities by March 2009, Seoul`s top nuclear envoy said.

The chief nuclear negotiators from the three nations agreed at a meeting in Tokyo to fine-tune their strategies ahead of the next round of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea`s nuclear ambitions. The talks are likely to be held in next Monday.

"South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to cooperate to finish up the second phase of the (North`s) denuclearization process by as early as the first quarter of next year, and enter into the third phase thereafter," Kim Sook, South Korea`s nuclear negotiator, told reporters after the trilateral meeting. "We coordinated views on the verification protocol and how to end the second phase of denuclearization."

The member nations to the six-party talks had previously agreed to complete the second phase by October, but the process has stalled due to differences over how to verify the list of North`s nuclear programs.

Under the second phase of the multinational deal, Pyongyang should disable its main nuclear facilities at the Yongbyon complex and fully declare all of its nuclear programs including the uranium enrichment program and proliferation activities. As compensation, the other five nations are to grant to North Korea economic and energy aid equivalent to 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.

The third phase calls for the complete dismantling of all of the North`s nuclear facilities in return for massive economic aid and normalization of diplomatic relations with Washington and Tokyo.

"The three nations reaffirmed cooperation to ensure that the upcoming agreement will include key elements to the verification, including nuclear sampling," Kim said. "Irrespective of format, the agreement must contain without any doubt an element to permit the sampling."

The United States has been struggling to bridge gaps with North Korea over a means to verify the nuclear programs the North declared in June. North Korea is opposed to international inspectors taking samples from its nuclear complex at Yongbyon.

The three allies also reaffirmed that a third country would replace Japan in supplying heavy fuel oil to North Korea as part of the six-way nuclear disarmament process.

Japan has said it would refuse to pay its share of the cost unless Pyongyang fully addressed concerns about Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 80s.

The United States have discussed with Australia, New Zealand and European nations to replace Japan in making the fuel payment.

"Japan has agreed on such international funding for the heavy oil provision," Kim said. "(The three nations) agreed not to give any alteration to the current six-party-talks framework despite the international funding."

By Jin Dae-woong



(davidpooh@heraldm.com)