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Korea
China, North Korea Agree to Discuss Nukes
2003-10-31
China and North Korea agreed ``in principle’’ Thursday to convene a second round of six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program, further evidence of an increased diplomatic role for Beijing in the yearlong dispute.
"Sit! Stay!"
The reports were welcomed by the United States, which said the ``multiparty process’’ offered the second best hope of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear lunacy ambitions. While couched in tentative language, the North’s latest statement could be more binding because it was made publicly alongside China, its last major so-called ally and one it would be reluctant to alienate. No timeframe was given for future talks, and it was not immediately clear what the next step would be.
"Heel!"
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Friday he expects the new talks to convene ``soon,’’ although he did not mention any date.``This is a very positive progress, and I have confidence that the North Korean nuclear issue will eventually be resolved through multilateral dialogue,’’ Roh said at a peace forum on South Korea’s southern island of Jeju.
"Please? I’m trying to save my job here. Please?"
Word of the accord came after a meeting between Kim Jong Il, the North’s reclusive leader, and Wu Bangguo, the most senior Chinese to visit North Korea since 2001. In its national evening newscast, China Central Television showed Wu, head of China’s legislature and its No. 2 communist, shaking hands with a smiling Kim. Wu is on a three-day ``goodwill’’ visit as China tries to ensure another round of the six-nation summit held in Beijing in August. ``Both sides agreed in principle that the six-way talks should continue,’’ CCTV’s anchorwoman said. ``China and North Korea support the idea of a peaceful resolution to the North Korean issue through dialogue.’’
Interesting that Chinese television aired this first. Perhaps the Chinese are sending a message, as in "this is the deal and don’t you dare back out"?
The official news agencies of North Korea and China confirmed the report. Pyongyang’s KCNA used slightly more tentative language, however, saying the sides ``agreed in principle to pursue the course of the six-way talks.’’
"C’mon! That choker chain is tight! Loosen up will ya?"
KCNA said the North ``expressed its willingness to take part in the future talks if they provide a process of putting into practice the proposal for a package solution based on the principle of simultaneous actions.’’ North Korea has previously said that ``simultaneous actions’’ include economic and humanitarian aid from the United States, the opening of diplomatic ties and the building of a nuclear power plant. It also demands a signed nonaggression treaty - something the Bush administration has thus far refused. In exchange, North Korea has said it would declare its willingness to give up nuclear development, allow nuclear inspections, give up missiles exports and finally dismantle its nuclear weapons facilities.
Give up missile exports? Is that a new concession? They can’t be serious, it’s the only foreign exchange generator they have other than white slag.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the United States was ``encouraged’’ by the reports that North Korea had agreed in principle to six-nation talks. McClellan reiterated the United States was still interested in providing some kind of security assurance to North Korea - an alternative to the nonaggression treaty the North seeks. ``But North Korea must end its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable, irreversible way or we’ll do it for them. We’ve made that very clear,’’ he said. In New York, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said cooperation between the five nations was the only way to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear aims. ``All of us are working together to show North Korea that its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will only bring extinction further isolation,’’ Rice said at the National Legal Center for the Public Interest. ``Today, when North Koreans come to multiparty talks, they look across the table at a united front of nations opposed to their own nuclear armament and the North Koreans know that a strategy of divide and conquer is no longer an option.’’ The joint statement could be considered a diplomatic salvage operation victory for Beijing, which has had to balance its duty to its neighbor with what a nuclear-armed North might mean for China’s security and its fast-growing economy. The presence of Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China’s point man on North Korean affairs, reinforced notions of possible motion in the nuclear issue during the trip. China’s Foreign Ministry declined comment on the developments until Wu’s visit concludes. CCTV also reported that Kim had accepted Chinese President Hu Jintao’s invitation to visit China again. Kim said he would do so "in chains ``at his convenience,’’ CCTV said. Snippets of the two leaders sitting across from each other at a long table in a cavernous Pyongyang meeting room were broadcast. Wu and Kim laughed and gestured expansively.
Wu made hand-puppets showing a rabbit swinging in a noose.
China, which has gently pressed the issue of further discussions, has stepped up the rhetoric with Wu’s trip. Earlier Thursday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wu as saying that ``adherence to dialogue should be the correct direction’’ to end the standoff.
"Heel! Heel I say!"
And Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue, at a regular briefing the same day, reiterated: ``We want to hold this round of six-party talks as soon as possible.’’
"We’re getting tired of supporting these crazy guys!"
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Boy, would I have liked to have been a fly on the wall during those discussions.
Posted by: Anonymous-not above   2003-10-31 11:12:27 AM  

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