hankyoreh

　
A delegation of technicians from the United States, China and Russia have been invited by North Korea to inspect key nuclear facilities. The trip, scheduled for Sept. 11-15, is a significant sign that disablement of the North’s nuclear facilities has begun.

Beyond merely confirming the North’s political will, by agreeing to send a delegation to Yongbyon, nations participating in the six-party talks will be able to commit practical actions toward disabling the North’s nuclear programs within the year.

In the agreement reached in February of last year by the six nations, which include North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, the North agreed to dismantle and declare all of its nuclear programs, in exchange for political and economic benefits. The process has moved forward swiftly in recent months, following the North’s shut down of its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and the first in a series of shipments of heavy fuel oil sent by Seoul in August. Under the February agreement, North Korea is to receive a total of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil, incrementally and in tandem with step-by-step fulfillment of its obligations as outlined in the deal.

It is also important to note that a tentative agreement on the next steps in the denuclearization process was reached at the 2nd round of working-level talks on normalization of relations between North Korea and the United States in Geneva on Sept. 1-2. This shows that there may have been some unknown “promises” between the two nations in connection with measures regarding normalization, such as removing the North from the list of nations supporting terrorism and abolishing the Trading with the Enemy Act, both of which impose political and economic sanctions on the country, in exchange for the North’s disablement of its nuclear facilities.

On Sept. 3, a spokesman for the North’s Foreign Ministry said, “Pyongyang and Washington have discussed practical measures for disabling existing nuclear facilities and reached an agreement. Accordingly, the U.S. has agreed to provide political and economic compensation, including removing the North from its list of countries supporting terrorism and completely lifting sanctions under its law limiting trade with enemy states.”

A team of 10 nuclear engineers will inspect Yongbyon’s three core nuclear facilities: a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor, recycling facilities and a factory processing nuclear fuel. They will also discuss the technical level and method for disablement with North Korean nuclear officials. Though this subject was broached by participants in the second round of working-level talks held with the six parties in Shenyang, China, in August, and in the course of North Korea-U.S. working-level talks held in Geneva last weekend, no final agreement was reached on the matter at either time.

Therefore, an agreement is likely to be reached during the second phase of the sixth round of six-party talks, scheduled to begin on Sept. 17, following next week’s Yongbyon visit. Details on disablement costs and corresponding measures are also likely to be discussed and it will be necessary to deal with the problem of who will be tasked with fulfilling the disablement measures as well.

If they succeed in providing a road map for the North’s nuclear disablement as planned, there is likely to be significant progress in terms of the success of the multilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in October and having discussions regarding a peace regime.

Professor Kim Yeon-cheol at Korea University said, “Successful progress in the North’s nuclear disablement actually means that the North enters the dismantlement stage, therefore, it is decisively important to the denuclearization process.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]