Despite North Korea's post-conference blast at the US, the six-party talks in Beijing last week went relatively well, all things considered. The US, in a concession, even held an informal bilateral meeting with the North Koreans.
Although the North Koreans say they are not interested in continuing such talks, this is most likely mere posturing. Chinese Foreign Affairs Vice-Minister Wang Yi, at his press briefing on Friday, made it clear that all six parties, including North Korea, had agreed that the talks would continue, most likely in October, and that there should be a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. This was a major achievement, since there had been much speculation before the talks began that North Korea wanted nuclear power status.
Mr Wang suggested North Korea's security concerns and how to deal with them should be discussed in the next round. In Beijing last week, North Korea insisted that the US sign a non-aggression treaty, but the US rejected the idea. However, the US has indicated that some other means could be found to give the North assurances about its security. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, James Kelly, leader of the American delegation, declared that the US had no intention to threaten, attack or invade North Korea.
The North Korean delegate, Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il, asserted that denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was his government's goal. 'It is not our goal to have nuclear weapons,' he declared. Mr Kim, whose remarks were released by the official Korean Central News Agency, recalled that US President George W. Bush had listed North Korea as part of an 'axis of evil' and a possible target of a pre-emptive nuclear attack. 'This prompted us to judge that the Bush administration is going to stifle our system by force and decide to build a strong deterrent force to cope with it,' he said. 'It is a means of self-defence, to protect our sovereignty.'
Mr Kim denied the American charge that North Korea has a secret nuclear weapons programme, but insisted North Korea was 'entitled to have weapons more powerful than those based on enriched uranium'. One such weapon, he said, was 'single-hearted unity'.
The North presented a package of proposals that would lead to the readmission of nuclear inspectors, dismantlement of its nuclear facility and halting all missile exports. In return, North Korea wants the resumption of heavy fuel oil supplies, increased food aid, completion of two light-water reactors and diplomatic relations. Presumably, the timing and sequence of each step are subject to negotiation.
