North Korea’s Silence on the Joint Statement of the Six-party Talks

The fourth round of the six-party talks that resumed on Beijing went through the final throes of arrangement over the adoption of the final joint document on August 3.

The chief delegations from the six participating countries, including both Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China, and Russia, were supposed to have held a meeting at 3:00 p.m. on August 3 in order to discuss whether to adopt the joint statement, but the meeting was delayed because North Korea had not clarified its position yet.

Prior to this, host China had presented a final draft that included North Korea’s abandonment of nuclear programs and the participating nations’ economic cooperation and security guarantee, requesting the position and comments from each nation.

The final draft reportedly included the content that the normalization of North Korea’s ties with the U.S. and Japan should proceed bilaterally.

Early on August 3, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, and Russia delivered their positions through respective contacts with China that they would accept the final statement. However, North Korea didn’t make any comments until then.

As the scheduled meeting of chief delegations was delayed, it was observed that North Korea might have objections over a number of disputed points, such as the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Therefore, whether the joint document of the fourth round of six-party talks will be accepted seems to be fully up to North Korea’s position.

If North Korea accepts the final draft and the joint document is adopted, the six-party talks are expected to be conclude by as early as August 4. However, if North Korea is against the final draft, demanding amendments, the meeting is highly likely to continue.

Jong-Koo Yoon jkmas@donga.com