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WASHINGTON - Following the U.S. government’s release of video footage linking North Korea and Syria on April 24 (EDT), attention is inevitably being focused on the direction of the next round of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program.

After a temporary agreement was reached in Singapore between North Korea and the United States, the outlook for the talks had been positive and Washington was reportedly moving to lower the bar for Pyongyang on two key allegations, uranium enrichment and nuclear cooperation with Syria. A visit to North Korea on April 22-24 by U.S. government officials, including Sung Kim, the director of the Korean affairs office at the U.S. State Department, was known to have been successful. However, there is the possibility that the tide is changing due to resistance from the U.S. Congress, which stems from the purported allegation of nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Syria.

“We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria’s covert nuclear activities. We have good reason to believe that (the Syrian) reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on Sept. 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes,” the White House said in a statement released on the same day. “One way we have chosen to deal with this problem is through the Six Party Framework. We will work with our partners to establish in the Six Party Framework a rigorous verification mechanism to ensure that such (North Korean) conduct and other nuclear activities have ceased.”

The statement came after CIA Director Michael Hayden briefed lawmakers on the U.S. House and Senate intelligence, armed services and foreign affairs committees on the allegation of nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Syria. At the closed-door briefing, the intelligence officials presented video footage that they said showed a Syrian nuclear reactor before it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike last September, according to reports in the U.S. media. The footage also showed a North Korean person, the reports said. The CIA also presented two pictures, one of them showed the North Korean with the head of the Syrian nuclear committee, and the other showed the same North Korean person at the six-party talks.

While the April 22-24 visit by U.S. officials to North Korea was a successful step toward resumption of the six-party talks, the new information could destroy the process and allow diplomatic efforts to follow the quagmire of the Middle East, one of the thorniest U.S. foreign policy issues. The fate of the talks now depends on which of the two aspects gets greater support.

At first, the U.S. and China appeared to be cautioning against the potential ramifications of the North Korea-Syria allegations, saying that they should be resolved under the framework of the six-party talks. In the White House statement, the U.S. government said, “We will work with our partners to establish in the Six Party Framework a rigorous verification mechanism.”

A senior South Korean government official said, “It’s important to ensure a perfect verification mechanism under the six-party talks. North Korea must come clean on the allegations by completely cooperating with the verification process in the future.”

China, the host of the six-party talks, said that the North Korea-Syria allegations would not have an impact on the progress of the talks.

However, it remains to be seen what the effects of the allegations will be because the issue is beyond the scope of the six-party talks, which are aimed at dismantling the North’s nuclear program and setting up a new post-Cold War order. The North Korea-Syria allegations seem more closely related to Middle East politics, a major concern for the U.S. and its ally, Israel.

Another South Korean government official said, “Though the uranium enrichment program, the cause of the second North Korean nuclear crisis, is part of the (U.S.) neoconservative agenda, the allegation of nuclear cooperation (between North Korea and Syria) is an issue that both neoconservatives and pro-Israel politicians have watched closely.”

In terms of international politics, the allegation of nuclear cooperation is a more complex issue than the nuclear standoff in North Korea. Where U.S. foreign policy is concerned, pro-Israel politicians are known to have a strong influence. In that context, it is necessary to closely review the White House statement, which repeatedly made mention of Middle East political concerns, including references to allegations of Syria’s support of terrorism and Iran’s nuclear activities.

Kim Sook, South Korea’s top negotiator for the six-party talks, will meet his U.S. counterpart Christopher Hill, the assistant U.S. secretary of state, in Washington to discuss how to move the six-party talks forward and how to deal with the North Korea-Syria allegations.

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