DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Met With Ex-U.S. Energy Official

It is worth noting Kim Kye Kwan, North Korea’s vice foreign minister, and Charles Kartman, former Director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), met and discussed the issue of the North’s light water reactor on March 4, a day before the scheduled working group meeting for normalizing U.S. and North Korean relations in New York on March 5.

The North’s vice foreign minister met with the former KEDO director, who was the U.S. representative of the 1994 U.S.-DPRK nuclear development freeze, and who also took charge of the subject of providing a light water reactor to the North twice that day (in the morning and in the evening).

When asked whether Kim showed interest in a light water reactor by reporters after dinner, he answered, “Of course. He kept talking about it.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on March 5 that the U.S. government’s approach to resolving the issue of access to highly enriched uranium was to let the North return the uranium equipment, saying, “The North purchased the equipment not to pursue nuclear weapons but to produce energy.”

Christopher Hill, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Department of State, said on March 4, “We will set an agenda to discuss bilateral relations at the scheduled U.S.-North Korea talks. They will address what should be included in building diplomatic ties, what is needed to be removed from the list of terrorist sponsoring countries, and how to lift the law on trade with an enemy.”

kong@donga.com sechepa@donga.com