South Korea said it would press North Korea to scrap nuclear weapons at talks starting today as US officials said Pyongyang had admitted reprocessing fuel to make more atomic bombs.
"The government plans to strongly urge the North to change its attitude, including scrapping its nuclear development," said a presidential statement yesterday after a meeting of the National Security Council.
South Korea will face resistance from the North over attempts to discuss the issue as the North has insisted it is a matter between Pyongyang and Washington.
The US has said it will keep pursuing a diplomatic solution to defuse the North Korean crisis despite Pyongyang's recent disclosure to US officials that it had nuclear arms and was reprocessing spent fuel rods.
American intelligence agencies have said the North has enough plutonium for one or two weapons or has built one or two weapons, but they do not believe it has done substantial reprocessing.
"The government will continue its efforts to peacefully resolve the North Korea nuclear issue through close coordination with the US and strengthened cooperation with other concerned countries," the South's presidential statement said.
"Officials shared the view that it would be a grave violation of international rules if the North's revelation is true."
The South's delegation, led by Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, heads to Pyongyang today for three days of talks.
A North Korea armed with nuclear weapons would increase the threat to neighboring Japan, China and South Korea and the 37,000 US troops based in the South, and would make it trickier to craft a solution to the six-month nuclear standoff.
Seoul will work closely with allies Washington and Tokyo, South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said yesterday after a briefing by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who headed the US delegation to the Beijing talks.
Kelly later flew to Tokyo to brief Japan on the talks.
North Korea said on Friday it had made a bold new proposal at the talks but had learned nothing new from Washington. The statement, carried by the North's KCNA news agency, did not mention nuclear weapons.
North Korea also implied at the Beijing talks that it might conduct a nuclear weapons test and stated its intention to supply weapons to other countries, US officials said.
US intelligence agencies do not believe North Korea has reprocessed the spent fuel at its nuclear complex at Yongbyon, a step that experts see as a "red line" that, if crossed, would warrant a tougher US response.
Reprocessing would give Pyongyang material for several more nuclear weapons that experts fear it could sell to militants.
If the North Koreans "are telling the truth [about reprocessing], then we have a massive intelligence failure" as US spy agencies have not detected the reprocessing in advance and "if they are not telling the truth, it's a hell of a way to start out negotiations with a new lie," a US official said.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a