N.K., Arms Reduction Talks for Dismantlement of Nuclear Weapons

In its keynote speech on December 18 in Beijing, North Korea asserted that the negotiations should be arms reduction talks on the dismantlement of nuclear programs at the current stage. It is an official requirement to be treated as a nuclear power despite repeated rejection from South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, preventing Pyongyang’s further nuclear tests.

North Korean chief negotiator and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan commented in his keynote speech, “In order to discuss the September 19th joint statement including nuclear dismantlement, all U.N. sanctions and U.S. financial restrictions should be first lifted.” He continued to ask, as a precondition, the abolishment of the U.S. legal and institutional hostile policy towards the North and a supply of alternative energy including oil and power aid until its nuclear reactor is built. Kim hinted on the possibility of another nuclear test, saying, “We will take steps to strengthen our nuclear deterrent if sanctions against the North continue.”

Christopher Hill, the U.S. chief negotiator of the six-party talks, said in his keynote speech, “Normalization of the U.S.-North Korea relationship is possible only after the North achieves denuclearization in a complete and irreversible manner. All is possible with denuclearization, but nothing is possible without denuclearization.”

In Beijing this afternoon, concerned parties held bilateral meetings on the sideline including South Korea- U.S., S.K.-Japan, and the U.S.-Japan. But the communist country rejected the bilateral meeting with concerned parties, including the U.S.

gun43@donga.com