(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Oct. 8) - Nothing new in N.K.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il this week told visiting Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao that Pyongyang would return to the six-party talks on condition that the
United States and North Korea hold bilateral talks first.
This statement appears to indicate that North Korea is finally coming around to
the multilateral talks aimed at denuclearization of North Korea. The communist
state in April declared that it was abandoning the talks following the
international condemnation of its long-range missile test. In May it conducted
its second nuclear test which resulted in the imposition of stricter U.N.
sanctions.
Since quitting the six-party talks, the North had repeatedly said that it would
never return to the talks, that the talks were dead and that the agreements
reached during the talks were null and void. Pyongyang also said that it was
taking steps to reverse the actions taken to disable its nuclear facilities.
Hence, when Kim told Dai Bingguo, Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs,
visiting Pyongyang last month that the North was willing to engage in bilateral
and multilateral talks, it was seen as a sudden turn around. Yet, it remained
unclear if the multilateral talks meant only the six-party talks, as the North
said that "multilateral talks" included the six-nation talks.
"We expressed our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome
of DPRK-U.S. talks. The six-party talks are also included in the multilateral
talks," North Korea's official news agency reported following a meeting between
Wen and Kim. What the meeting between Kim and Wen accomplished was a confirmation
from the North Korean leader that North Korea may return to multilateral talks -
including the stalled six-party talks - if the U.S.-N.K. negotiations are
successful.
In essence, this is not any different from the message that Pyongyang has been
sending out since last month. It wants direct talks with the United States to
normalize relations between the two countries. Only then will it return to
denuclearization talks.
Numerous economic assistance deals were signed between China and North Korea
during Wen's visit. These include China building a new bridge to connect the two
countries. In return, all Kim offered was the possibility that it may return to
the six-party talks.
Although the exact economic package that China offered North Korea is not yet
known, such assistance would surely work against the ongoing U.N. sanctions
against Pyongyang. In fact, China has diluted the impact of the international
sanctions at the very time when they are beginning to have an effect.
China may have demonstrated that it still wields influence over North Korea by
getting Kim to confirm that his country may return to the six-party talks.
However, that commitment has preconditions that give Kim a lot of room to
maneuver, should he wish to renege on it.
For starters, Pyongyang and Washington must agree on an agenda before the two
sides can meet. With the United States insisting that it would engage in
bilateral talks as a way to persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks
and North Korea demanding substantially more, the two countries have a wide gulf
between them that must be bridged before they can sit down for talks.
For now, it appears that China paid a heavy price to get Kim to commit to
something that he may find easy to renege on.
(END)