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North Korea nuclear talks open in Beijing
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-09 15:51 Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator and assistant secretary of state
for Asia affairs, warned that Washington won't discuss giving the North a
civilian nuclear reactor, a demand it has made, until Pyongyang returns to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accepts safeguards from the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
"First they have got to disarm, create a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and
once they are back in the NPT with IAEA safeguards, at an appropriate time we'll
have a discussion about the subject," Hill said.
Pyongyang said Bush's comment cast a shadow over the talks.
Bush made the remark Sunday in Brazil while praising Japan as a close U.S.
ally in confronting a "tyrant" in North Korea. He did not mention Kim by name.
"If this is true, what he uttered is a blatant violation of the spirit of the
joint statement of the six-party talks, which calls for 'respect for
sovereignty' and 'peaceful coexistence,'" a North Korean Foreign Ministry
spokesman was quoted as saying by the North's official Korean Central News
Agency.
"These remarks ... arouse our serious concern about the prospect of
implementing the joint statement and deprive us of any trust in the negotiators
of the U.S. side," said the spokesman, who was not identified.
The last round of talks ended with North Korea promising to disarm in
exchange for aid and a security guarantee. But negotiators have not taken up the
most difficult issues: how the North will disarm and how to verify it.
North Korea has raised doubts about its intentions by demanding it be given a
civilian nuclear reactor before it disarms, a condition the United States has
rejected.
The joint statement last month sidestepped the North's demand for the
reactor, saying it would be discussed "at an appropriate time."
Earlier Tuesday, Kim Gye Gwan said North Korea "cherishes the joint
statement," China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"We are willing to make sincere efforts at this round of the talks to fulfill
the spirit of the joint statement," Kim was quoted as saying in Pyongyang before
flying to Beijing.
Analysts cautioned against expecting a breakthrough.
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