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China-Japan-Koreas

Lee: dismantle NK nukes via six-way talks

2010-12-30

SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that North Korea's nuclear program should be dismantled next year through the six-way talks, a remark that may signal Seoul's flexible stance toward the resumption of the long-stalled forum.

"(We) have no choice but to resolve the problem of dismantling North Korea's nuclear program diplomatically through the six-party talks," Lee said as he received the 2011 policy report from the foreign ministry.

Lee's comments came as the viability of the Beijing-based negotiations, also involving the United States, Russia and Japan, is being increasingly questioned amid Pyongyang's continued provocations. A breakthrough is being watched for when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington next month for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Won't happen unless Bambi caves. The six-way talks are supposed to start with the premise that North Korea canNOT be a nuclear power, since they signed the IAEA accord decades ago as a non-nuclear power. But the Norks want to start the talks with the premise that they ARE a nuclear power. They then wish the flexibility to sign away that right in return for various goodies, such as a 'peace' treaty, aid, and so on. If the talks start with the premise that they aren't a nuclear power then the Norks have lost their best bargaining chip, and they know it. So it won't happen unless Bambi decides that yes, the Norks can be a nuclear power. If that happens the SKors and Japanese will have a cow.

Lee said the international community is pressed for time in denuclearizing the North, who set 2012, the centenary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung, as the target year to become a "great, powerful and prosperous" nation.

Just another five year plan. The Saint Louis Browns had five year plans too...

Because of the North's goal, "(we) should certainly achieve the dismantlement of its nuclear program next year," Lee said, adding South Korea should "play an important role" in the process through bilateral talks with the North.

Dismantlement should be a pre-condition of having the talks.

The president said his government faces an urgent and important task of broadening support from neighboring nations for Seoul's efforts for peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

In a separate briefing by the Unification Ministry on its key policies for next year, Lee made strongly indications that his conservative administration will be more aggressive in seeking dialogue with the North. Presidential aides, however, said the president was not talking about new initiatives on relations with Pyongyang or the nuclear talks.

Shortly after the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, China proposed an emergency meeting of chief delegates to the six-way talks but South Korea rejected the offer. It said it is still premature to talk about the resumption of the nuclear talks as the North should first halt provocative acts and show its seriousness about denuclearization.

Among Seoul's tacitly attached preconditions are Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear activities and the return of international monitors to its major nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

In other words, the Norks have to come into the talks as a non-nuclear power.

Posted by:Steve White

#2
I think this guy has seen this before . . . .

Posted by: gorb 2010-12-30 01:26

#1 ION TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > SOUTH KOREA PUSHES FOR REUNIFICATION DESPITE NORTH WAR THREATS.

versus

* PRAVDA > JAPAN TO MEDVEDEV: KURILS ARE OUR LAND[Part of Northern Japan = sovereign + ancestral]. Tokyo = Japan also formally rejects Medvedev's offer to set up a JOINT EXCLUSIVE ECON ZONE IN FORMER JAPANESE KURILES.

Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-12-30 01:04

00:00