hankyoreh

Jul. 29

By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington Correspondent and Park Byong-su, Senior Staff writer

　The United States and North Korea have decided to hold a third round of high-level bilateral talks in Beijing on February 23. The talks will be the first between the two states since the death of Kim Jong-il, chairman of the North‘s National Defence Commission.

　US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland stated on Monday that Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies would meet a delegation from the North that would include Senior Vice (1st Deputy) Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye-gwan, in Beijing on the 23rd to discuss the resumption of official dialogue for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. Nuland explained that the Beijing talks provided an opportunity to confirm whether North Korea was ready to answer the US’s queries.

　The two states had agreed to begin the third round of high-level talks at the end of last year, but this was delayed due to Kim Jong-il‘s death. The talks this time are therefore expected to consist of discussion of the cessation of the North’s uranium enrichment program and the provision of 24,000 tons of food aid by the US. The two states held the first and second rounds of high-level talks last year in New York in July and in Geneva in October, respectively, where they discussed issues including the resumption of six-party talks.

　It appears that the Beijing talks will provide confirmation of the new North Korean leadership‘s stance on issues such as future bilateral relations, the North’s nuclear program and the six-party talks. “The North Korean order cannot be regarded as having changed following the death of Chairman Kim Jong-il, but it is necessary to weigh up the orientation of the new system inasmuch as there has been a physical change to the leadership,” said one high-level official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The resumption of talks between the two states is also being interpreted as a sign that the North has organized itself internally to a certain extent following the death of Kim Jong-il.

　It appears that preliminary denuclearization measures such as temporary cessation of the North‘s uranium enrichment program, and food aid from the US, will be discussed at the coming talks. At the end of last year, the two sides reached a broad convergence of opinion on preliminary denuclearization measures in exchange for food aid and agreed to hold a third round of high-level bilateral talks. This agreement, however, was not fulfilled, due to Kim Jong-il’s death. “These talks signify the resumption of talks at the level [they had reached] in the second half of December last year, before Chairman Kim Jong-il‘s death,” the same official said.

　It remains unclear, however, whether these bilateral talks will yield substantial progress. Differences in opinion between the two sides remain. While the US intends to supply 240,000 tons of nutritional aid excluding cereal and rice, which can be diverted to the military, the North is demanding cereals. On January 11, a spokesperson for the North’s foreign ministry expressed strong opposition to the US‘s stance, saying that its large-scale changes to the quantity and type of food aid, after mentioning at least 300,000 tons in initial discussions, cast doubt on its will to build up credibility. Nuland said that if North Korea wanted to discuss nutritional aid, and if it had answers to the US’s concerns, the US was ready to listen.

　The problem is that the current situation shows few signs of flexibility on either side. In the case of North Korea, the question is whether the leadership can yield during a delicate period of power transition. The US, too, has little room for concessions in advance of the presidential election at the end of this year. “I don‘t think it’ll be easy for these talks to produce a clear turning point or lead straight on to six-party talks,” said one diplomatic source in Washington. “But it appears clear that North Korea wants to maintain its keynote of dialogue with the US.”

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