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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:57 pm Post subject: BREAKTHROUGH: NK TO GIVE UP NUCLEAR PROGRAM |
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North Korea nuclear talks reach first-ever agreement
BEIJING -- Negotiators at talks seeking to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program reached their first-ever agreement Monday, unanimously accepting a joint statement, the Chinese envoy said.
"This is the most important result since the six-party talks started more than two years ago," said Wu Dawei, Chinese vice foreign minister.
No details of the statement by the six countries at the talks were immediately available. (AP)
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http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20050919p2a00m0na013000c.html
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N Korea 'to abandon nuclear work'
Breaking news graphic
North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear activities and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Chinese and Korean news agencies say.
At the same time, the US is said to have given an undertaking that it has no intention of attacking North Korea.
The breakthrough came during a fourth round of six-party talks in Beijing aimed at ending a three-year standoff over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
There is no decision on whether to give North Korea a light-water reactor. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4259128.stm
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North Korea agrees to give up nuclear programs
CTV.ca News Staff
North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear programs and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as soon as possible, in a stunning development at the six-party international talks.
In return, the secretive communist country will get oil and power aid and security guarantees.
The North "promised to drop all nuclear weapons and current nuclear programs ... as soon as possible and to accept inspections" by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the unanimous agreement by the six countries at the talks being held in Beijing.
"All six parties emphasized that to realize the inspectable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the target of the six-party talks,'' the statement said.
The United States and North Korea pledged to respect each other's sovereignty and right to peaceful coexistence.
A door was left open to North Korea resuming a civilian nuclear program at some future point if it regains international trust.
"This is the most important result since the six-party talks started more than two years ago,'' said Wu Dawei, China's vice foreign minister.
The talks have been going on for just over two years. They include China, Russia, Japan, the United States and North and South Korea. |
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1127104348481_86/?hub=World |
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howie2424
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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| wow, didn't see that coming! It will be interesting to see all the details. |
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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Good news but better wait to see all the details. Can't help but being skeptical. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:10 am Post subject: |
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| North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear programs and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as soon as possible, in a stunning development at the six-party international talks. |
It is clear from this type of journalistic hysteria that many underestimate Kim Jong Il and the DPRK.
The NPT is a merely a formality. It is a piece of paper. Quite similar in fact to another piece of paper: signed in 1994 (an accord between the DPRK and the USA - for Pyongyang to decommission various nuclear installations).
"...But the people of [North] Korea did not sacrifice millions of lives in the war to free their country from Japan, and in the subsequent victorious war to defend their People's Republic from the military aggression of the invading forces of the US, Britain and their allies, simply to crumble in the face of imperialist economic aggression, on the one hand, and its blood-curdling threats on the other. The overwhelming majority of people of North Korea treasure their independence and sovereignty that the Korean people have fought so hard to achieve and will defend it to the last whatever the hardships that they have to endure in the process. It is only that determination, born of generations of suffering, that enabled a tiny country no bigger than Wales, to fight off the imperialist aggressors who considered they had a right to annex it at will..." |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
| Quote: |
| North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear programs and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as soon as possible, in a stunning development at the six-party international talks. |
It is clear from this type of journalistic hysteria that many underestimate Kim Jong Il and the DPRK.
The NPT is a merely a formality. It is a piece of paper. Quite similar in fact to another piece of paper: signed in 1994 (an accord between the DPRK and the USA - for Pyongyang to decommission various nuclear installations).
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In a shocking developement, I think Soviet man/Tokki is right!
An infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriter ... |
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shakuhachi
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
"...But the people of [North] Korea did not sacrifice millions of lives in the war to free their country from Japan... |
OK, so now it was North Korea that defeated Japan? The Korean resistance never played a significant role in the defeat of Japan, much less millions dead. |
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bigverne
Joined: 12 May 2004
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:37 am Post subject: |
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| that enabled a tiny country no bigger than Wales |
I'm pretty sure that North Korea is bigger than Wales. |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| I'll believe it when I see it. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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Indeed, a day later here comes the NK punchline:
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N.Korea statement puts nuclear deal in jeopardy
Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:20 AM
By Martin Nesirky
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons until the United States provides civilian atomic reactors, Pyongyang said on Tuesday in a statement that significantly undermined a deal reached just a day earlier.
Six countries, including the North and the United States, had agreed on Monday to a set of principles on dismantling the Pyongyang's nuclear programmes in return for aid and recognising its right to a civilian nuclear programme.
Sceptics had said the deal was long on words, vague on timing and sequencing and short on action: the North's comments made clear just how short.
"The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of the DPRK's dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing LWRs," said the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement, which was published by the official KCNA news agency.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. LWRs are light-water reactors, which experts say are more proliferation-resistant than other reactors.
In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman said he could not immediately comment on the North Korean statement.
South Korea's financial markets did not react sharply to the North's statement.
The statement said Pyongyang would not need a single nuclear weapon if relations with Washington were normalised. The North said in February it had nuclear weapons.
"What is most essential is, therefore, for the U.S. to provide LWRs to the DPRK as early as possible as evidence proving the former's substantial recognition of the latter's nuclear activity for a peaceful purpose," it said.
South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China -- the other players in the six-party talks -- expressed a willingness in Monday's agreement to provide oil, energy aid and security guarantees in return for the North ditching its nuclear weapons programmes. The timing was left vague.
NORTH SEES DIFFERENT TIMING
Washington and Tokyo agreed to normalise ties with the impoverished and diplomatically isolated North, which pledged to rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Again, Tuesday's statement said that would happen only after it got the reactors.
Official reaction before the North's statement was cautiously upbeat, though analysts were sceptical and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice predicted difficulties.
Washington has been sceptical of any accord with Pyongyang since accusing the communist state of cheating on a deal to freeze its nuclear programmes in the 1990s.
"The joint statement is the most important achievement in the two years since the start of six-party talks," said Chinese chief negotiator Wu Dawei. The seven-day session in Beijing ended with a standing ovation by all delegates.
At the talks, Washington had eased its staunch opposition to any nuclear reactor for North Korea, and indicated it was willing to consider a light-water reactor to produce electricity under certain stringent circumstances.
The U.S. State Department said the offer of nuclear energy hinged on Pyongyang dismantling all its nuclear activities.
"It's a theoretical proposition in the future, contingent on dismantlement having taken place, (North Korea) re-signing up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and having IAEA safeguards in place," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Pyongyang's statement made clear the North sees the timing precisely the other way around.
The United States, backed by Japan, had argued North Korea could not be trusted with atomic energy, but China, South Korea and Russia said if Pyongyang scrapped its nuclear weapons and agreed to strict safeguards, it should have such an energy programme in future.
Failure to reach a deal in Beijing could have prompted Washington to go to the U.N. Security Council and seek sanctions. North Korea had said sanctions would be tantamount to war.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Beijing and by Reuters correspondents in Washington, Beijing and at the United Nations) |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Standard operating procedure for NK. It was really only a matter of time though I'm surprised it happened so quickly. Fred Kaplan over at Slate has written some good articles over the years about negotiating with them. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Hater Depot wrote: |
| Standard operating procedure for NK. It was really only a matter of time though I'm surprised it happened so quickly. Fred Kaplan over at Slate has written some good articles over the years about negotiating with them. |
Negotiating with them... it's more like playing at backyard magic shows: now you see it, now you don't - Ooops! You didn't see that!! - and Liars Club combined. |
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rok_the-boat
Joined: 24 Jan 2004
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - NK pulling the wool over people's eyes again .... but not mine.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| My first response to that news is "What enormous concession are they getting?" Well, there it is. This would turn out to be pretty amusing if NK never had nuclear weapons to begin with, no? |
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forgesteel
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:39 am Post subject: North Korea Demands Nuke Reactor From U.S. |
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North Korea Demands Nuke Reactor From U.S. By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer
7:21 PM (Korean time) September 20, 2005
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea insisted Tuesday it won't dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the U.S. gives it civilian nuclear reactors, casting doubt on a disarmament agreement reached a day earlier during international talks.
Washington reiterated its rejection of the reactor demand and joined China in urging North Korea to stick to the agreement announced Monday in which it pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs in exchange for economic aid and security assurances.
North Korea's new demands underlined its unpredictable nature and deflated some optimism from the Beijing agreement, the first since negotiations began in August 2003 among the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
"The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea's) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing (light-water reactors), a physical guarantee for confidence-building," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
U.S. officials dismissed the demand.
"This is not the agreement that they signed, and we'll give them some time to reflect on the agreement they signed," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in New York on Monday.
The announcement Monday that North Korea would dismantle existing weapons and stop building new ones, culminating two years of bargaining, contained no deadlines and few details. The six parties in the talks agreed to meet again in November, when the difficult questions of verification and timetables would be on the table.
The North had demanded since the latest round of six-party talks began last week in the Chinese capital that it be given a light-water reactor — a type less easily diverted for weapons use — in exchange for disarming. U.S. officials opposed the idea, maintaining North Korea could not be trusted with any nuclear program.
The issue was sidestepped Monday, with participants saying they would discuss it later — "at an appropriate time." The North, however, chose to immediately press the issue, essentially introducing a major condition on its pledge to disarm.
Japan swiftly joined the United States in rejecting the demand.
"The Japanese side has continuously said that North Korea's demand is unacceptable," Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said.
China, North Korea's closest ally in the talks, urged Pyongyang to join the other negotiating partners in implementing the commitments in "a serious manner."
South Korea remained optimistic, with its point man on North Korea relations saying the country's latest statement isn't likely to derail the Beijing agreement.
"It's possible that the parties differ over this, but we and other participating countries are going to discuss it in bilateral or multilateral contacts before the fifth round of talks resume in early November," Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on MBC radio.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun predicted that "the United States and North Korea will likely engage in a tug-of-war," but added that prospects for resolving the nuclear issue are brighter after Monday's agreement.
Other countries at the Beijing talks made clear that the reactor could only be discussed after the North rejoins the Non-Proliferation Treaty and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency — which North Korea pledged to do in Monday's agreement.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli emphasized earlier in Washington that the "appropriate time" for discussing the reactor meant only after the North complies with those conditions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was asked in Beijing whether North Korea might have misunderstood the order of commitments laid out in the statement Monday.
"The common statement was adopted by all six parties and I don't think North Korea has any misunderstanding," Qin said.
Qin said that the November talks were still on, as far as he knew.
President Bush's administration has opposed anything resembling a 1994 U.S.-North Korea agreement, which promised the North two light-water reactors for power. That project stalled amid the current crisis, which broke out in late 2002 after U.S. officials said the North admitted having a secret nuclear program.
The North's latest position is likely to be a major sticking point in future discussions.
"If the North meant it, it would pose a lot of problems for future talks," said Baek Seung-joo, senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in Seoul. "The United States will never be able to accept the North's demand as it means going back to the 1994 agreement."
The agreement Monday had drawn praise around the world and raised hopes of resolving a standoff that has raised concerns of an arms race in northeast Asia.
Under the pact, in exchange for abandoning its weapons, the North gets security guarantees and energy aid, including a pledge from South Korea to provide it with electricity.
The North said Tuesday it would "wait and see how the U.S. will move" and warned there would "very serious and complicated" consequences if Washington demands the dismantlement of the communist nation's nuclear programs before providing a light-water reactor. |
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