N.K., U.S. to Meet in Singapore

Chief nuclear negotiators of the United States and North Korea, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan, will resume talks in Singapore on Tuesday.

The United States has been clear in their stance that a bilateral meeting will be held only when North Korea has reached its own conclusion. Given that North Korea reportedly proposed the meeting first, diplomatic sources believe that the two sides will likely attempt to make the final agreement on the declaration of Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

Once the two sides reach a compromise on the nuclear declaration, the six-party talks are expected to quickly resume and the talks will likely progress from the second phase to the third phase.

According to sources, Pyongyang and Washington have agreed to include the following three in the declaration list: materials related to nuclear facilities, including plutonium; uranium enrichment program (UEP); and nuclear connection with Syria. The two have reportedly reached an agreement that the issues that North Korea agreed to make public, such as the amount of plutonium, will be announced in a joint statement, while uranium and the Syrian connection will be dealt in a confidential memorandum of understanding.

The confidential memorandum of understanding, which is an indirect way of admitting, will contain the U.S. understanding that North Korea was involved in uranium activities and proliferation of nuclear weapons and that the communist regime will not refute the U.S. claim.

The two sides have reportedly been in a war of nerves. With regard to the choice of the word, “refute,” the United States has been insisting on a more clear word, “admit,” while the North has been insisting on “acknowledge” or “understand.”

If the bilateral talks in Singapore bear fruit, the United States will immediately resume the six-party talks after consulting with China and begin the next phase of preparing a road map for North Korea’s nuclear dismantlement and verifying the details of the nuclear declaration.

Seoul is planning to dispatch its chief nuclear envoy Chun Young-woo to Beijing in sync with Hill’s visit on Wednesday after the Singapore meeting. Chun is expected to hear the results of the bilateral talks from his American counterpart and discuss resumption of six-party talks.

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