NK-US Talks to Defuse Missile Tension

The Korea Times ^ | 21JUN06 | Park Song-wu

[familyop]

Washington Wants 6-Party Talks But Pyongyang Seeks Direct Channel

North Korea appears to be intentionally creating a sense of crisis in order to turn the situation to its advantage by its apparent planned launch of a long-range ballistic missile, U.S. National Security Advisor Steve Hadley said on Tuesday.

The U.S. presidential advisor's remarks came as a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan said North Korea could launch the missile ``anytime.'' In a self-defense measure, the Pentagon reportedly activated its missile defense shield.

Hadley said it is difficult to interpret the North's motives. But he said history tells us why Pyongyang is trying to launch a missile now.

``There tends to be a desire to create a sense of crisis,'' Hadley told reporters traveling with U.S. President George W. Bush to Austria on Air Force One. ``They seem to think that's something that works for them.''

He said the North seems to be moving toward a launch, but ``the intelligence is not conclusive at this point.''

Amid conflicting analyses on whether Pyongyang is trying to launch a missile or to orbit a satellite, the Choson Sinbo, one of Pyongyang's media outlets based in Japan, said on Wednesday that it is a legitimate exercise of the North's sovereignty to become ``a country that possesses a satellite.''

The article, posted on its Website and monitored by Yonhap News Agency, said Pyongyang could launch another missile ``anytime, which can be in a month or in a year.''

Some experts put more emphasis on the later part of the phrase ``in a month or in a year,'' predicting the North will not test-fire a missile sometime soon. But Paik Hak-soon, director of North Korean studies at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said it is a typical expression frequently used by Pyongyang in the past.

``Even Kim Il-sung (the founding father of North Korea) used such a phrase during his partisan campaign against Japan in the 1940s,'' Paik told The Korea Times. ``What's important here is that the North wants to maintain the tension and push Washington to have a direct dialogue with Pyongyang.''

In New York, Han Song-ryol, the number two diplomat in North Korea's U.N. mission, indicated that it might scrap the test-fire if Washington agrees to have a one-on-one dialogue, Yonhap reported.

``The United States says it is concerned about our missile test,'' Han said. ``I would like to say, `Okay then, let's talk about it,' and this is our position.''

The North has been asking for a visit to Pyongyang by Christopher Hill, the U.S. top envoy to the six-party talks, since late last year when the denuclearization talks faced a stalemate due to the North’s objections to U.S. ``financial sanctions'' over counterfeiting.

But Hill's position was clearly stated during a radio interview on Tuesday and it is not likely to change any time soon.

``We are quite happy to have direct discussions with them provided they are in the context of the six-party talks,'' Hill told National Public Radio, a non-commercial US broadcasting company, in its Morning Edition program. ``So during the time they are boycotting the talks, we don't think it would be a good idea to go and have bilateral discussions.''

During an international arms reduction meeting in Geneva, a North Korean diplomat lashed out at Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon, who requested Pyongyang to suspend the plan to test-fire a missile.

``If Ban's address is a reflection of change of the South Korean government's position, it constitutes a violation of the June 15 joint declaration (in 2000) and betrayal,'' Ahn Myong-hun, a councilor at the North's diplomatic mission in Geneva, said.

The North thinks missile launches are not a violation of its self-imposed moratorium because it stands only when Pyongyang is in dialogue with Washington, North Korea's Han in New York told Yonhap on Tuesday.

``As a sovereign state, North Korea has the right to not only develop, deploy and test-fire, but also export missiles,'' Han said. ``It is not right that others tell us what to do about our sovereign rights.''

One year after its last test of a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan in 1998, North Korea declared a self-imposed moratorium in exchange for economic rewards, and has not fired one since.

[hershey]

Somehow I'm not reassured by 'talks' of any sort. NK says they have the right to sell missiles to all comers. How long before Venezuela shows up with cash in hand?

[wolfcreek]

Isn't there an embargo on NK shipping missile tech.? Seems like the components are kind of large to pass unseen. Venezuela would like to have the missiles but, there too busy putting together a rifle factory.