The US opened nuclear weapons talks with North Korea in Geneva yesterday, following a conciliatory offer of food aid to the flood-ravaged country. Chief North Korean negotiator Kim Gye Gwan arrived at the US diplomatic compound for the first of two days of talks that the US hopes will help crack the main obstacles that stand in the way of ending the country's nuclear weapons programme for good. Kim, however, declined to make any forecasts. "It's not our custom to predict the results before the meeting," he said.
Washington has been careful to describe its one-on-one talks with North Korea as coming under the umbrella of six-nation talks to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons programme. But hours before the talks began, the US government expressed condolences for North Korean loss of life and homes in widespread flooding, and offered to discuss with Kim Jong Il's government provision of "a significant food aid package, including monitoring procedures", with no mention of the six-party talks. US State Department spokesman Tom Casey noted that severe August floods have worsened the already desperate situation of the North Korean people, and that the food aid would be on top of US antibiotics already being provided.
"This nuclear issue is a tough one," US assistant secretary of state Christopher Hill told reporters after his arrival in Geneva from Washington. He said he would try during the weekend talks to resolve some of the US-North Korean differences so that the overall "six-party talks" can wrap up key issues by the end of the year.