US, DPRK Hold Direct Nuclear Contact

Home>>China

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 28, 2003

US, DPRK Hold Direct Nuclear Contact

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Trading the cold shoulder for careful conversation, the United States and DPRK made their first direct contact in four months on Wednesday, huddling on the sidelines of a multinational summit to work through a venomous stalemate over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

China, South Korea, Japan and Russia joined them in formal discussions, eager to apply delicate diplomacy to East Asia's most alarming security problem. Later, US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il sat in chairs off to the side and conferred.

"The US side made comments about easing DPRK's security concerns," said Wie Sung-rak, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau. "From what DPRK side said during the meeting, we could read that DPRK is willing to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue."

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the US-DPRK meeting lasted about 35 to 40 minutes, but he gave no other details.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan downplayed the fact that the United States and DPRK held direct talks.

"What we always indicated is that these will be multilateral discussions. But nothing precludes a conversation across the table between two parties," Buchan said. "But there are not separate, individual, bilateral discussions going on."

The extraordinary three-day, six-country summit, the result of months of political maneuvering, convened on the grounds of China's state guest house.

The contact between the DPRK and American delegations ended a diplomatic drought between their two nations, whose envoys have not met formally since April.

Tensions and hostilities have been escalating since October, when Pyongyang acknowledged - to Kelly himself - that it restarted a nuclear program it had supposedly shut down. The United States has demanded that DPRK stop the program immediately, while the impoverished North has refused to budge without security and economic aid guarantees.

Both sides would benefit if a sturdy channel of communication were reestablished - even if it didn't lead to an immediate resolution of the nuclear dispute. Mere agreement this week to keep talking regularly would constitute some degree of success.

The six-party talks are a continuation of discussions from April, when U.S., Chinese and DPRK officials met in Beijing. The North's government had long demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but dropped its objections to the multilateral arrangement after Beijing agreed to host it.

A congenial air prevailed as the six countries' chief envoys posed for cameras, shaking hands firmly and smiling broadly before adjourning to an chandelier-lit chamber and snapping to work around a specially assembled hexagon negotiating table.

At Wednesday's talks, the two countries remained firm in their positions, participants said. Shin Bong-kil, a spokesman for the South Korean delegation, said there were "no big deviations" from the expected agenda.

Later in the afternoon, after the official meeting ended for the day, Kelly, Kim and their delegations met informally, officials said.

"The bilateral contact between the United States and DPRK came naturally as part of sideline activities," Wie said.

Alexander Losyukov, the Russian deputy foreign minister and head of his country's delegation, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that he wouldn't necessarily predict immediate progress as a result of the meeting.

"The sides have advanced a number of preliminary conditions which block the development of the talks," Losyukov said without elaborating. He said DPRK declared it wishes to be nuclear-free but expressed concern about "menaces from the U.S."

Later, at a dinner hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Kelly and Kim sat side by side and talked for an hour accompanied by translators, Shin said.

The U.S.-DPRK meeting came hours after Pyongyang repeated its demand for a non-aggression pact, saying it would not give up its "nuclear deterrent force" for anything less than that.

The United States should "clarify its will to make a switchover in its hostile policy toward (DPRK) and conclude a non-aggression treaty with it," Rodong Sinmun, the North's official newspaper, said in a commentary carried by KCNA, the North's official news agency.

U.S. officials say they believe DPRK has one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months.

"The mistrust between the U.S. and DPRK will not disappear soon," said Li Dunqiu, secretary-general of the Chinese Society for the Study of Korean History. "But the coordination among the six parties will help in this regard."

Source: agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

US Confirms Informal Meeting with DPRK Delegation

Beijing Six-party Talks on Korean Nuclear Issue Begin

>> Full Coverage

Martin Luther King's Dream Hard to Be Fulfilled ( 23 Messages)

China's Economy Faces Stiff Challenges: Minister ( 3 Messages)

China's 150 million mu Forests Plagued by Exotic Pests ( 3 Messages)

Is a Good Husband Worth More Than a Good Job? ( 2 Messages)

Poll Shows More Americans Wouldn't Vote for Bush ( 15 Messages)