Posted on 08/29/2003 2:10:47 AM PDT by kattracks
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. government has declined to comment officially on reports saying North Korean representatives at six-party talks in Beijing have threatened that Pyongyang will declare itself a nuclear power.
Both White House and State Department spokesmen at briefings Thursday sidestepped the subject.
Reports citing unnamed officials said the North Koreans were sending out both conciliatory and belligerent messages, including a warning of a formal declaration of nuclear capability and the possibility of a nuclear test.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, speaking in Texas, described Thursday's second day of talks as a "positive session" that saw excellent cooperation between the U.S., Chinese, Russian, Japanese and South Korean delegations.
The five nations all publicly support a nuclear-free Korean peninsula - the ultimate goal of the talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"Only through common effort and purpose can the U.S. and our friends and allies hope to convince North Korea to peacefully abandon its nuclear ambition," Buchan said.
Pressed for a response on the reported threats, Buchan would only say that "North Korea has a long history of making inflammatory statements that serve to isolate it from the rest of the world. And that is why this is an issue that the world and other nations, in addition to the United States, are addressing together."
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker also declined to get into the substance of the discussions.
He did say there were no informal one-on-one exchanges between the U.S. and North Korean delegations on Thursday, following one such encounter for 40 minutes on the opening day.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly heads the U.S. delegation, and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il - no relation of Kim Jong-il - leads the North Korean mission.
The talks at a state guesthouse in the Chinese capital are due to wrap up on Friday.
Russia's representative, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, said the six parties had agreed to hold further talks within the next two months, probably again in Beijing, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.
Before the talks began Wednesday, officials from participating countries appeared to agree that the best likely outcome of the meeting would be an agreement to talk again.
The U.S. wants North Korea to immediately and verifiably dismantle its nuclear programs and is seeking international support for that stance.
Pyongyang has insisted on a non-aggression pact from the U.S. in exchange for abandoning the nuclear option.
Whether the reported remarks from the North Korean delegates turn out to hold weight or simply be a negotiating tactic may become evident soon.
Sept. 9, a national holiday in the communist state, could be the time chosen by Pyongyang to formally to declare itself a nuclear power.
Last month, Russian news reports cited an unnamed "high-ranking source" at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna as saying North Korea planned to make the announcement on that date.
Also last month, a Japan-based North Korean political analyst widely described as an "unofficial spokesman" for Pyongyang predicted in an interview with CNSNews.com that the North would soon publicly declare itself to be a nuclear power.
Sept. 9 marks the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948.
The world's declared nuclear powers are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - all of whom have also signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which includes a commitment to dismantle their weapons, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans nuclear test explosions.
South Asian rivals India and Pakistan in mid-1998 declared themselves nuclear capable with tit-for-tat nuclear tests that drew widespread condemnation. Neither has signed the NPT or the CTBT, and they are not considered official nuclear powers by the big five.
Israel is known to have nuclear weapons but has never declared its capability. It, too, has not signed the NPT.
North Korea signed the NPT in 1985 but withdrew from the treaty early this year.
See Earlier Story:
North Korea Preparing to Declare Itself a Nuclear Power? (July 25, 2003)
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Or how about sneaking a few ballistic missile submarines and stealth bombers close enough to NK to eliminate their response time and then eradicate everything that could pose a threat to us or our allies, including those 10K+ artillery tubes aimed at South Korea? The diplomatic approach, as always when dealing with thug nations, has failed.
Thanks for the bulletin, Kim Jong Il.
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