US, “Has A Will to Talk with North Korea but No Reward for That”

The Governments of Korea, America, and Japan strongly urged at the TCOG meeting held at the US Department of State on the 7th (local time) that in order to reinstate the talks between North Korea and America, North Korea must first abandon the highly enriched uranium nuclear weapon development program.

Korea, America, and Japan said like that through the joint statement that day and stressed, “North Korea must take a quick and verifiable action and honor the nuclear related international promises.”

The joint statement also indicated, “The US delegation has a will to talk with North Korea about how North Korea performs her duty for the international society,” and “however, America will not provide any reward for North Korea`s performing her existing duties.” American attitude like this is a step back from her existing standpoint of ‘abandoning nuclear first, and then talk,’ so the response of North Korea is being watched. The US Government stated that it conveyed the TCOG joint statement to the officials of the North Korean Mission to the UN.

The Spokesman of the US Department of State Richard Boucher said during a scheduled briefing, “If North Korea returns her actions so far (like canceling the nuclear-freeze) to their original state and make it clear to abandon the nuclear program, we are willing to talk with North Korea about those.”

The Korean Head Delegate, the Assistant Minister of the Diplomacy and Trade, Lee, Tae-Sik explained in relation to that, “If North Korea shows her will to give up nuclear, America will value that positively and can initiate the talk.”

The joint statement continued, “The US Delegation has repeatedly stated the fact that the President George W. Bush made clear that he has no will to threat or invade North Korea,” and actually denied the North Korea`s request to conclude a non-aggression pact by saying, “The Delegation of the 3 countries does not have any security basis for North Korea to have nuclear weapons.”

In the meantime, the Chief Presidential Secretary of Diplomacy and Security, Im, Sung-Joon, who is visiting America, met the Assistant Secretary of the US Department of State, Richard Armitage at 9:30 in the morning on the 8th (11:30pm on the 8th in Korean local time), discussed about the solution for the North Korean nuclear problem and the visiting America of the President-elect Noh, Moo-Hyun after the inauguration, and is planning to meet the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the White House Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that afternoon.

Ki-Heung Han Young-Sik Kim eligius@donga.com spear@donga.com