Disarmament Diplomacy

News Review

No Sign of US-North Korea Talks

North Korea has still to respond positively to President Bush's June 6 offer to resume bilateral discussions on a range of military and security issues. Pyongyang is concerned at the scope of the suggested agenda, broadened from that proposed by the Clinton administration to include North Korea's conventional force disposition as well as its missile policies and civil nuclear programme. As a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson observed, quoted on the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 23: "We consider the resumption of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]-US dialogue to be a matter that may be discussed only when the Bush administration takes at least the same position as [that] taken by the Clinton administration in its last period..." Washington, however, insists it is setting no preconditions for the discussions.

On October 26, the official North Korean newspaper Minju Joson published a commentary harshly critical of remarks by US President Bush in an interview with Asian journalists on October 16. Commenting that he was "disappointed in [North Korean President] Kim Jong-il in not rising to the occasion," and in "being so suspicious, so secretive," Bush said it was time for the leader to "prove his worth" and "earn the trust of the world". Minju Joson complained: "The Bush administration should make a sincere apology to the Korean people for Bush's reckless remarks... Now that the US tries to disarm the DPRK, while persistently pursuing [a] hostile policy towards the DPRK, the DPRK is not interested in any dialogue and improvement of relations with the US." Reacting to the article, State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher commented (October 26): "The United States is prepared to undertake serious discussions with the North Koreans at any time, at any place and without preconditions. That remains our policy, our point of view. And we're open to discussions on whatever issues they might want to talk about." On October 29, a more ambivalent commentary appeared in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean Communist Party, which noted that North Korea's "position is to terminate the abnormal [state of] DPRK-US hostile relations, the ties between the two warring parties, and improve them... It is good, not bad, to improve DPRK-US relations. ... [North Korea] neither neglects nor opposes [a resumption of talks]..."

On November 6, Charles Pritchard, President Bush's Special Envoy for Negotiations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, summarised the administration's assessment of the situation in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "As you know, the administration conducted a thorough and inclusive review of its policy toward North Korea. The President announced the results of that review on June 6. He directed his national security team to undertake serious discussions with North Korea on a broad agenda to include: improved implementation of the [1994 US-North Korea] Agreed Framework relating to North Korea's nuclear activities; verifiable constraints on North Korea's missile programmes and a ban on its missile exports; and a less threatening conventional military posture. ... While we have conveyed to North Korea our desire to have serious talks without preconditions, we have not yet received a positive response from Pyongyang. However, inter-Korean dialogue has resumed. It has not been without its problems, but we are very supportive of the interaction between Seoul and Pyongyang."

On November 15, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed his concern at the threat to US interests posed by North Korean military ambitions and export policies: "It's...clear they've been making efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. And certainly the capabilities that they are seeking and that they're selling do constitute the threat [to us] that has been posed and discussed and [which] is very real."

Earlier, in one chink of diplomatic light, the US welcomed news that, after discussions with the European Union, North Korea had declared its intention to ratify the UN International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. A State Department official noted (November 7): "We would welcome and encourage North Korean cooperation in international efforts to combat terrorism."

Note: on November 22, South Korea announced it had conducted a missile test-firing. According to a Defence Ministry statement, the missile, launched from the country's western coast, successfully destroyed its target over the Yellow Sea between South Korea and China, after a flight of 62 miles. Although the flight was comfortably inside the 187-mile range set as a maximum by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which South Korea joined in March this year, there was some speculation that the test, the first this year, was intended to send a message to North Korea, underlining the need for swifter progress in discussions on political and military matters with Seoul and Washington. The test is also likely, however, to provoke an angry response from Pyongyang: see next issue for further details and reaction.

Reports: Bush warns North Korea against threatening South, Reuters, October 17; N. Korea says US must ease stance for talks to resume, Reuters, October 23; North Korea says not interested in talks with US, Reuters, October 26; North Korea lashes Bush, won't talk to US, Reuters, October 26; US still ready to talk to North Korea, despite attack on Bush, Agence France Presse, October 27; N. Korea Oks talks with US, Associated Press, October 29; N. Korea assails Bush but wants better US ties, Reuters, October 29; Text - Pritchard briefs Senate panel on US policy toward N. Korea, Washington File, November 6; US greets N. Korea plan to sign UN terrorism pact, Reuters, November 7; Rumsfeld worried about N. Korea missiles, Associated Press, November 15; South Korea test-fires missile, Associated Press, November 22; South Korea launches missile in its first test since last year, New York Times, November 23.

© 2001 The Acronym Institute.