NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 93 (February 11, 2010)

*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)

Chinese Official's North Korea Trip Generates Hope for Six-party Talks

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Chinese top official Wang Jiarui's recent trip to North Korea
has generated optimism that the North may be mulling returning to mothballed
six-nation talks.

Wang's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Feb. 8
in particular drew media speculation that the two communist allies have found
common ground over when and how the North will return to the six-party talks that
have been deadlocked since they were last held in December 2008.
During the meeting, North Korean leader Kim reiterated his nation's determination
to denuclearize though it was unclear whether Kim indicated any clear intention
to rejoin the stalled denuclearization talks. Kim may also visit China, as
Beijing has reportedly extended an invitation through Wang, head of the
international department of the Chinese Communist Party. Wang arrived in
Pyongyang on Feb. 6 for a four-day visit.
Kim's comments on his commitment in principle to denuclearization efforts are
similar to earlier statements he has made. The latest remarks are drawing
attention, however, as Kim sent his chief nuclear negotiator to Beijing following
the meeting held in the North's eastern city of Hamhung.
North Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, accompanied Wang on his return
to Beijing giving rise to media speculation that the sides are discussing
reopening the nuclear talks in return for China's economic aid.
On Feb. 9, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Wang
delivered a verbal personal message from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kim and
that Wang and Kim had "a cordial and friendly conversation." The report didn't
describe the content of the message but added that Kim "expressed thanks for this
and asked Wang to convey his regards to Hu Jintao."
Hours later, Xinhua News Agency reported that Kim Jong-il reiterated to Wang the
North's "persistent stance to realize the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula." Xinhua said Kim stressed it was important for other nations in the
six-party setting to be sincere and serious about resuming the talks. Xinhua said
Wang delivered letter from Hu which the Chinese President wrote China was
prepared to "make joint efforts with North Korea to maintain peace and stability
on the Korean Peninsula."
Kim Kye-gwan, in his surprise trip to Beijing, is expected to hold discussions on
the nuclear standoff with Chinese officials. Kim was accompanied by Ri Gun, the
deputy nuclear negotiator for North Korea.
The exchange visits by Wang and Kim Kye-gwan are part of a flurry of diplomacy to
help revive the multilateral nuclear talks, which have been on and off since they
were launched in 2003.
But the Chinese news agency stopped short of saying whether the North's leader
promised to rejoin the stalled six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons
programs, which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United
States. The talks have been deadlocked for more than a year.
Xinhua also said Chinese President Hu Jintao extended an invitation to the
North's leader to visit Beijing.
Adding to the flurry of diplomacy to jumpstart the nuclear talks, U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Lynn Pascoe, arrived in Pyongyang
on Feb. 9 for a four-day trip in the U.N.'s first bilateral talks with the North
since 2004. The nuclear dispute is expected to be on the agenda for his
discussions with North Korean officials.
According to a brief report by Radio Pyongyang, monitored here, Pascoe and his
attendants were greeted by the chief of the United Nations Development Program's
office in North Korea after landing at a Pyongyang airport.
In Seoul, a government official said the brisk diplomatic activities involving
North Korea bode well for the fate of the troubled six-way talks. "Those busy
diplomatic efforts are a positive sign in international efforts to bring North
Korea back to the six-party talks," the official told Yonhap News Agency,
requesting anonymity. He added that the nuclear talks may be resumed at an early
date, given the pace of diplomatic efforts.
North Korea withdrew from the nuclear talks in April last year in anger over a
U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch widely condemned as a test of its
missile technology. The communist regime conducted its second nuclear test in May
and a series of banned ballistic missile launches in the following months.
But since August last year, Pyongyang has tried to reach out to South Korea and
the U.S. amid U.N. sanctions. The North now demands the lifting of sanctions as a
condition for its return to the nuclear negotiations. The regime has also renewed
its long-standing demand that the United States and other parties involved sign a
peace treaty that will replace the 1953 armistice that ended the three-year
Korean War.
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, just concluded a trip to Seoul and Tokyo to reconfirm that the three
countries will not discuss easing U.N. sanctions on the North or a peace treaty
to replace the Korean War armistice unless North Korea first returns to the
six-party talks.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley on Feb. 5 praised China's effort
to revive the nuclear talks. "The Chinese senior officials have regular
discussions with North Korea," Crowley said. "We value that leadership by China."
North Korea has been sending confusing signals, recently firing artillery rounds
along its maritime border with South Korea while proposing talks with South Korea
for joint projects. On Feb. 8, the two sides held talks on ways to resume
suspended projects for South Korean tourists to visit North Korean tourist sites,
but the meeting ended without an agreement.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Feb. 7 the Obama administration will
continue engaging North Korea, which she described as "a nuclear-armed country,"
calling for the North's return to the talks.
"Engagement has brought us a lot in the last year," Clinton told CNN. "When we
said that we were willing to work with North Korea if they were serious about
returning to the six-party talks and about denuclearizing in an irreversible way,
they basically did not respond in the first instance."
Pyongyang is reportedly suffering acutely from an ongoing economic crisis and the
stringent U.N. sanctions that have virtually disabled much of the North's
overseas businesses. But there are still a number of barriers that need to be
removed before the six nations can seek progress in denuclearizing the North.
Pyongyang, despite having told Washington that it understood the need to revive
the multilateral discussions, maintains that the U.N. sanctions must first be
lifted before it can return to the discussion table. The North also is calling
for its negotiation partners to place priority on negotiating a peace treaty. The
Armistice Agreement - the end product of the 1950-53 Korean War - is the source
of its security concerns, according to Pyongyang.
Whether the North would agree on complete and irreversible denuclearization in
exchange for the bundle of "comprehensive" economic incentives offered by Seoul
and other members of the multilateral discussions also remains to be seen,
experts noted. In Washington on Feb. 9, the U.S. called on North Korea to follow
through on its promise to return to the six-party nuclear talks.
"North Korea is saying the right things, that the six-party process should
resume, and that it remains committed to denuclearization," State Department
spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters through a teleconference. "But the right
words must be followed by action. Words by themselves are not sufficient."
Crowley said the U.S. welcomes Kim Kye-gwan's trip to Beijing. "We absolutely
support interaction between North Korean officials and our six-party partners,"
he said, adding he hoped Kim Kye-gwan "will hear the same message from the
Chinese that he's heard from the United States."
The spokesman referred to the trip to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, special
representative for North Korea policy, in December, the first direct high-level
contact for the Obama administration.
"We expect that will be the message that the Chinese deliver to Kim Kye-gwan
while he's in Beijing, that North Korea should allow China to schedule the next
six-party meeting, and North Korea should again commit itself to the obligations
that it made previously," Crowley said.
(END)

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