hankyoreh

vice marshal of the (North) Korean People’s Army steps off a plane at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport after returning from his three-day trip to China on May 24. (AP/Yonhap News)

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer, Park Hyun, Washington correspondent and Seong Yeon-cheol, Beijing correspondent

It is becoming increasingly likely that nothing concrete will materialize following the reference to the six-party talks made during the May 24 meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Choe Ryong-hae, vice marshal of the North Korean military. North Korea is desperate to cling to its nuclear weapons, and there are no signs that this stance is changing.

On May 25, shortly after Choe returned to North Korea, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang’s official news service, reported that Choe had delivered a handwritten letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the Chinese president. However, the report made no mention of the fact that Choe brought up the six-party talks in his conversation with Xi Jinping, let alone the forceful language with which the Chinese pressured the North to give up its nuclear weapons. This part of the story was omitted from the official North Korean report.

The KCNA report also took umbrage at South Korean president Park Geun-hye’s May 23 remarks, when she simultaneously criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (who was referred to in the report as “the most dignified”) and his so-called two-track plan for strengthening the country’s nuclear arsenal while also building the economy. The report leveled withering criticism against Park, using invectives such as “heinous” and “impertinent” and accusing Park of “revealing her flagrant desire to provoke conflict.”

In particular, the report even trotted out the term “puppet president”, which Pyongyang had until that point been holding back from directing against Park, while defending the two-track program. This is being seen as making clear not only to South Korea but also to China and the world at large that the North does not intend to give up its nuclear weapons.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear test in response to the sanctions imposed on Jan. 23, 2013, by UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2087. It has also refused to acknowledge agreements to denuclearize reached through negotiations, including the Agreed Framework, which was signed in Geneva in 1994, or the Sep. 19 Joint Statement, which was a product of the six-party talks.

On Apr. 1, an editorial in the Rodong Sinmun (the official paper of the North Korean Worker’s Party) declared that “the time has passed when the American imperialists can threaten us with their nuclear weapons and impede our economic development.” The remarks show that the North wants countries in the region to recognize it as a nuclear power and that it especially desires to have talks with the US on an equal footing.

Another reason why the North is rejecting the agreements reached in past negotiations is that, aside from the fact that it already has nuclear weapons, it no longer needs to rely upon the outside world to provide energy aid or to assist with the construction of light water reactors.

In early May, US experts analyzed satellite pictures taken of construction underway at the Yongbyon light water reactor. These experts believe that North Korea can conduct a trial run of the 100MW light water reactor this summer and move into full-scale generation of electricity starting in spring 2014.

On May 3, the Rodong Shinmun published an editorial that revealed that this light water reactor is the key to the country’s two-track program. “The Party’s two-track program is based on our independent development of nuclear power,” the editorial said. “This development will enable us to strengthen our nuclear arsenal while also satisfying our urgent need for electricity.”

Given such a situation, it is unlikely that North Korea will hasten to return to the six-party negotiations.

On May 25, the Choson Sinbo, the official paper of North Korean-affiliated Japanese organization Chongryon, published an analysis of Choe’s visit to China. North Korea did no more than adopt a forward-looking stance to all kinds of talks, the paper said, in order to give China, which had been the chair country of the six-party talks, more diplomatic leeway. The Chosun Shinbo’s assessment was that Choe’s visit to China was not a call for dialogue but rather a formal gesture made to help China save face.

Insofar as North Korea continues to hold fast to its two-track program for nuclear armament and economic development, it is very probable that the situation on the Korean peninsula will devolve into deadlock with the door for dialogue left tantalizingly ajar.

Furthermore, since full-scale operation of the light water reactor represents a peaceful use of nuclear power, it would be hard for China to oppose it. In addition, not only does a light water reactor serve as an excuse for operating facilities for enriching uranium that can be used as nuclear fuel, but the reactor itself provides a basis for augmenting the country’s nuclear arsenal.

It appears that North Korea will use this light water reactor as leverage to bring direct talks with the US and recognition for the North Korean regime issues that it regards as being of fundamental importance to the front of the agenda.

The US government is still maintaining its wait-and-see attitude on the issue of resuming talks with North Korea.

On May 24, an official in the US State Department was asked by a Hankyoreh reporter how the US was taking Choe’s indication that North Korea was willing to take part in talks. “The US and China share the perspective that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is essential for moving forward with any diplomatic procedures with North Korea,” the official responded on condition of anonymity.

This can be seen as emphasizing the standard US position that, before any talks with North Korea can take place, the North must first demonstrate the sincerity of its intention to abandon its nuclear weapons. It appears that the stance adopted by the US government may be given new focus during the upcoming meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which is scheduled to take place from June 7 to June 8. During the meeting, Xi Jinping is expected to try to persuade Obama of the necessity of reopening the six-party talks.

Meanwhile, an editorial printed in the May 25 issue of the Global Times, an English language paper that is associated with the People’s Daily, the official paper of the Chinese Communist Party, argued that, insofar as North Korea had revealed its intention to take part in the six-party talks or other talks, South Korea, the US, and Japan should respond affirmatively to this change in North Korea’s attitude.

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