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The North Korean nuclear issue is again facing difficulties as North Korea is likely to miss a December 31 deadline to disable its nuclear facilities and make a full declaration of its nuclear programs. The country has stated that it is dissatisfied with the pace of economic compensation, which could be a barrier to progress in negotiations, though some suspect that its reluctance to discuss the extent of its uranium enrichment program could also be a motivating factor.

North Korea had reportedly not divulged its uranium-enrichment program and cited unexpectedly low figures regarding the amount of extracted plutonium it has in its possession. North Korea was reported to have said that it will control pace of the disablement process as it feels that economic compensation is far slower than expected.

“There is a delay in the implementation of economic compensation obligations to be undertaken by the other countries in the six-party talks. We will have no choice but to adjust the pace of the disablement process,” Hyun Hak-bong, deputy director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s American affairs bureau, was quoted as saying on December 26 by Kyodo news agency.

“We are truly faced with difficulties in negotiations on North Korea’s denuclearization,” Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said on December 27, adding that the target deadline is the end of the year and there is no other fixed date after that. “Before predicting where the denuclearization process will go, we are trying to overcome this obstacle,” he said.

The Tokyo Shimbun quoted sources on North Korea-U.S. relations as saying that Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister, told Christopher Hill, top U.S. negotiator to the nuclear talks, that the communist country had produced 30 kilograms of plutonium so far. The newspaper reported that it was the first time North Korea has disclosed the figure. The figure is smaller than the amount of plutonium which international experts have estimated until now. Accordingly, problems with verifying the amount of plutonium that North Korea has produced, as well as the existence of the UEP, are expected to become issues as the negotiation process goes forward.

Foreign Minister Song refused to confirm the news report, “as the North has not yet made its declaration and the parties to the talks are discussing complete disablement and declaration.”

North Korea agreed to declare and disable its nuclear facilities under a six-party forum which also includes South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. In exchange, the North is to receive 950,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil or the equivalent in economic aid and diplomatic concessions, including removal from the United States’ list of state sponsors of terrorism and the lifting of economic sanctions.


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