North Korea Arms Talks Plan for a New Round (Administration Thinks Progress Being Made)

The United States, North Korea and four other nations ended three days of sometimes fiery negotiations here today and decided to keep talking, as Bush administration officials concluded that the diplomatic track still offered the best hope of resolving the Korean nuclear crisis.

Though North Korea repeatedly threatened to test and deploy nuclear weapons if its demands for a nonaggression pact were not met in full, several senior administration officials said the six-party negotiations had in some respects "exceeded our expectations," persuading them to push for a new round soon.

The officials expressed satisfaction that China, Russia, South Korea and Japan had joined the United States in telling North Korea that it had no rational choice but to drop its confrontational attitude and abandon its nuclear program.

They said they hoped that the unified message would register clearly with Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

"We knew from the outset that this was going to be a very difficult process with a very difficult interlocutor," a senior administration official said. "But we set a policy direction that has proven promising. We intend to stay the course."

The moderately upbeat comments came even though the United States and North Korea did not bridge any significant differences during the sometimes tense discussions.

North Korean officials stuck closely to scripted positions and offered no concessions, while the United States insisted that it would not discuss any economic or political benefits for North Korea until that country unilaterally dismantled its nuclear program.

The official North Korean press agency issued a bellicose critique of the talks — which were sponsored by the North's onetime military and political ally, China — in which it said the North had been "betrayed." It demanded that the United States offer it a nonaggression treaty before it would dismantle its atomic bombs.

"If our reasonable proposal is turned aside, we will judge that the U.S. does not intend to give up its attempt to stifle the D.P.R.K. by force," the agency said, referring to the formal name for North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "In this case the D.P.R.K. cannot dismantle its nuclear deterrent force but will have no option but to increase it."

The six nations did not issue a joint communiqué despite China's attempts to midwife a declaration that would set out common goals for future talks. Even Wang Yi, China's vice foreign minister and the host of the talks, described differences between the United States and North Korea as "comprehensive."

But China announced, and other delegations confirmed, that the six countries had agreed to meet again within two months.

Asian diplomats also noted that North Korea and the United States had agreed on some broad goals. Both said they favored a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and promised to address the North's security concerns.

"I believe these issues can be resolved," Mr. Wang said. "What is important is to maintain this momentum of dialogue that has not come easily."

The talks could provide fodder for skeptics of the negotiating process, including some members of the Bush administration, who have argued that North Korea does not intend to stop its nuclear program.

Some of those officials have argued that a much tougher approach, including sanctions, inspections and interdiction of seaborne cargo, and possibly even military action, would be necessary to prevent the reclusive Communist country from becoming a full nuclear power.

American officials said North Korea's chief delegate at the Beijing talks, Kim Yong Il, startled the other negotiators on Thursday afternoon when he declared that his country had developed nuclear weapons and was prepared to prove that it could successfully deliver and explode them.

Officials said they interpreted the remarks as meaning that North Korea might conduct a nuclear test, presumably underground, as well as missile tests to show that it could deliver an atomic device to a target.

American and Asian officials said today that if North Korea conducted a nuclear test, the Bush administration would end all talks with the North — and would be likely to move immediately to severe economic sanctions, including the active interception of ships leaving the country.

"If they blow off a nuke test, this whole process of negotiation is over," one senior American official said. It is not clear how explicitly that was communicated to the North Korean delegation during the talks, officials said.

China, which like the United States has a permanent seat with veto power on the Security Council, has so far strongly resisted the possibility of United Nations sanctions. It is unclear if the talks have changed China's attitude.

Despite the lack of tangible progress, the talks underscored the usefulness of the negotiating track urged on the administration by China, the administration officials said. They said President Bush's proposal to bring together all of North Korea's neighbors around one table had paid dividends when they all made plain that the world could not accept a nuclear North Korea.

The officials also offered a measured assessment of the meaning of the North's latest saber rattling, noting that Mr. Kim had used carefully chosen words to suggest that his country was being compelled into its aggressive posture by the lack of progress in arranging a security guarantee.

The threats, while more specific than past ones, were similar to warnings North Korea made to the United States in a previous round of talks in April, the American officials said. One exception, they said, was that North Korea said in April that it might sell its nuclear weapons to other nations but did not repeat that threat this time.

Proponents of continued negotiations also pointed out that the North Koreans had agreed to not "escalate the situation" as long as talks continued.

Administration officials and Asian diplomats said they felt confident that North Korea had departed with a clear sense that it could not count on China, Russia or South Korea to take its side against the United States. In negotiating sessions, Japanese and South Korean diplomats pointedly rebuffed the North's arguments that the United States was preventing them from investing and trading with North Korea, they said.

Moreover, the officials said, the four other nations taking part in the talks heard North Korea confirm that it had nuclear weapons. In previous sessions North Korea had made such statements only to the United States.

"The situation now is that the five parties are seized by the nature of this threat," an administration official said. "It will make it much easier for us to work together...

"Proponents of continued negotiations also pointed out that the North Koreans had agreed to not "escalate the situation" as long as talks continued.

Isn't it amazing how well US diplomacy works when the Western Europe isn't involved?

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