WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Verification of North Korea’s uranium enrichment program and the state of its missile development were key preconditions Seoul and Washington called for in last month’s talks aimed at restarting six-party negotiations, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.
The source, who declined to be identified, said while South Korea and the United States had set other preconditions on which they were willing to be flexible, they remained steadfast on the two critical issues.
The allies have said that the North’s UEP capabilities need to be checked, because they can be concealed more easily than the production of plutonium to make weapons grade fissile materials.
Making plutonium requires a nuclear power plant like the one at Yongbyon. In contrast, uranium processing only needs “simple” centrifuge devices that can be put almost anywhere.
The diplomatic insider said there is some consensus that 20 years of observation has given the outside world a relatively clear picture of Pyongyang’s plutonium-making capabilities. It, on the other hand, has hardly any information on the UEP program.
He said that the so-called compromise proposals made by China centered on what should be touched on once negotiations resumed and not necessarily on the preconditions.
China chairs the multilateral aid-for-disarmament forum, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia. Media reports claimed Beijing proposed improved relations between all six-party countries and the signing of a non-aggression pact between Washington and Pyongyang.
The six-party talks that kicked off in 2003 ran through late 2008 without making headway in preventing the communist country from acquiring nuclear weapons. The North detonated a nuclear device in 2006, 2009 and in February of this year. It also launched a long-range rocket that may have the capacity to deliver a nuclear payload to U.S. territories in the Pacific region.
The official then said that because the North already agreed to the Sept. 19 joint declaration of 2005 and the February 29 pact of last year, Beijing too understood that the preconditions were reasonable and something the North should accept.
The two agreements outline the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, with the North accepting a nuclear moratorium and IAEA inspections that would prevent it from conducting more nuclear tests. It also stipulates that the North halt uranium enrichment and desist from long-range missile launches.
Despite pledges made in the past and persuasion carried out by China, the North’s main supporter, Pyongyang has continued to demand that it will not accept any preconditions.
Reflecting this, the North’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that it is the United States that broke all promises, and it is not right that Pyongyang should make unilateral concessions.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
