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U.S. offers new ideas to North Korea

— Photo: AP

The 60-ft cooling tower being demolished at the main reactor complex in Yongbyon, North Korea, on June 27.

SINGAPORE: United States envoy Christopher Hill has held talks in Pyongyang to dissuade North Korea from re-starting its nuclear weapons programme. No details were made public until nightfall on Friday.

According to the U.S. State Department, Mr. Hill was “not” really sent on a mission to offer the North Koreans “any new substance in terms of proposals”. He carried new ideas about the “choreography” of the Six-Party Talks (SPT) “process.” A key idea was that China, as the SPT Chair, could again play “a special role” in securing North Korea’s assent to a verification protocol. The crisis was triggered by Pyongyang’s decision to ask the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to de-seal the reprocessing plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex. The plant was earlier “disabled” under IAEA supervision and in accordance with an SPT accord. The SPT participants are the U.S., North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia.

The IAEA de-sealed the plant and removed surveillance gadgets and withdrew inspectors from there by September 24. And, North Korea immediately announced its intention of reactivating the reprocessing facility, an essential step in “re-nuclearisation,” in a week’s time from then. However, as the dialogue partners expressed concern, Pyongyang invited Mr. Hill for talks.

At the heart of the dispute is the refusal by North Korea to subject its own “nuclear declaration” to the “standards” of verification that the U.S. proposed. The “declaration,” containing disclosures about Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes and facilities, was earlier made under an SPT agreement. And, North Korea remains on the U.S. list of “state-sponsors of terror.”

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