North Korea-weekly review-1

NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 76 (October 15, 2009)

*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)

East Asian Leaders Agree on Efforts to Resolve N. Korean Nuke Issue

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged the international
community to act quickly to denuclearize North Korea during a trilateral summit
with Japan and China in Beijing on Oct. 10.

The South Korean president called on the countries to quickly come up with a
package of incentives for the North that could be included in his proposed "grand
bargain," which aims to irreversibly dismantle the socialist nation's key nuclear
capabilities in a single step rather than in phases.
"Now is a good time for North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, and there
will be good results if we can offer a proposal for a one-step solution of the
nuclear issue and conditions for such a deal," he told the press conference.
China welcomed Lee's proposal for a grand bargain, dubbing it the "great
exchange" in Chinese, according to Kim Eun-hye, a spokeswoman for Seoul's
presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. Yukio Hatoyama, after a bilateral summit with
President Lee on Oct. 9 in Seoul, called the proposal a "correct" way to
denuclearize the North.
President Lee said he hoped to explain the proposal to Pyongyang, as well as
countries' willingness to help the North, if such an opportunity arises, but
added that any dialogue with the socialist nation must be based on a pledge from
Pyongyang that it will give up its nuclear ambitions.
"South Korea is open to any dialogue, but the final goal of a meeting between the
South and the North is to make North Korea give up its nuclear ambitions," Lee
said.
The idea of a singe-step solution was proposed last month by the South Korean
president, who urged an end to North Korea's "salami tactic" of dividing its
denuclearization process into a multitude of bargaining chips. The proposal seeks
to irreversibly dismantle North Korea's key nuclear facilities in one single
step, instead of in phases, in exchange for a massive package of incentives to be
put together by the five other nations in the nuclear talks.
The leaders of South Korea, Japan and China reaffirmed their commitment to the
peaceful denuclearization of North Korea in a joint statement issued at the end
of their trilateral summit, which marked its 10th anniversary this year after
starting on the sidelines of an annual regional summit hosted by the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"We will remain committed to dialogue and consultation and continue to work
through peaceful means to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,"
the statement said.
The three leaders agreed to boost their cooperation in other areas as well,
saying it will contribute to peace and stability not only in the region but
throughout the world. "We will push the trilateral relations forward in the
direction of good-neighborliness, mutual trust, comprehensive cooperation, mutual
benefit and common development," said the joint statement.
At the second trilateral summit held outside of the annual regional summit hosted
by the ASEAN, the three leaders agreed to work together for an early restart to
the six-party talks, releasing a joint statement commemorating the 10th
anniversary of the talks. The first freestanding summit was held last December in
Fukuoka, Japan. The first-ever three-way talks between the neighbors were held in
1999 on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
The three leaders, whose countries accounted for 16 percent of the global gross
domestic product last year, vowed at the summit to seek ways for the
implementations of Lee's "grand bargain" proposal. Under the plan, North Korea
would dismantle the key parts of its nuclear arms program in exchange for
security assurances and economic aid, the end of sanctions and months of tension
sparked by its nuclear test in May.
"Impending issues for Japan not only include North Korea's nuclear weapons and
missiles but also the abduction of Japanese by the North," said Hatoyama, who
took office last month. "Japan intends to resolve those issues comprehensively
and this has something to do with Lee's Grand Bargain."
After the summit, Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a press
release that the three leaders reconfirmed the six-party talks were the most
effective measure for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and agreed to
continue their joint efforts for an early resumption of the talks."
"President Lee and Premier Wen noted the relationship between their two countries
has steadily developed since it was upgraded to a 'partnership of strategic
cooperation' last year and agreed to further strengthen exchanges between the two
nations," Cheong Wa Dae said.
In Seoul on Oct. 9, leaders of South Korea and Japan held a bilateral summit and
made public their strengthened cooperation in resolving the North Korea nuclear
crisis, promoting a one-step solution to end the pattern of rewarding the North's
bad behavior.
"We agreed on the need for a fundamental and comprehensive solution to the North
Korean nuclear issue that will not lead to the negotiation tactics of the past,
and we agreed to work closely together on a way to resolve the issue in a single
step," Lee said in a joint press conference after his summit with the Japanese
prime minister.
Hatoyama said Lee's proposal for a "grand bargain" was a "very accurate, correct"
approach to denuclearizing the North. "We must find out North Korea's true
intentions by pursuing a complete and comprehensive solution to North Korea's
nuclear, as well as its ballistic missile programs. Unless North Korea shows
willingness to give them up, we must not provide economic assistance," the
Japanese premier told the press conference.
President Lee said he was convinced the North will eventually come back to the
negotiating table, but stressed that Seoul and Tokyo should continue to
faithfully implement U.N.-imposed sanctions on the North until the communist
state does so.
"Prime Minister Hatoyama and I reached an agreement that for the resolution of
the North Korean nuclear issue, a change of North Korea's attitude was necessary.
To this end, we agreed to work for the North's return to the negotiating table
while fully implementing the U.N. Security Council sanctions," Lee said.
(END)