North Korea mixed smiles with threats and China urged patience yesterday as the US and its allies huddled to coordinate their positions on the eve of talks over North Korea's nuclear crisis.
The two protagonists, North Korea and the US, stand far apart before the six-country talks that are a result of months of frantic diplomacy.
Washington is demanding the unconditional and verifiable scrapping of Pyongyang's nuclear program before making concessions and North Korea wants security guarantees before dismantling.
Host China -- keen to keep the dispute from escalating into a destabilizing conflict or a refugee crisis on its northeast flank -- called for respect and calm from all sides.
"The nuclear issue is very complicated and acute, and it is impossible to solve all problems through one or two discussions. Moreover, other issues may arise during negotiations," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi (
"China hopes all parties will ... show sincerity to solve the issue, adopt a calm and patient attitude, respect each other, conduct consultations on an equal footing, seek common ground and reduce disputes," China's chief negotiator said.
As part of China's continuous efforts to reassure the North that its security fears will be addressed, Wang said China opposed pressure, sanctions or war.
Flying into Beijing airport, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il smiled, waved and clasped his hands above his head before being whisked away in a three-car motorcade.
But in a sign of the tensions on the Korean peninsula, North Korea renewed a threat to pull out of student games in the South over anti-North demonstrations.
Diplomats from South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia arrived in the Chinese capital on Monday. Ten months into the crisis, the only real consensus among the five is that the Korean Peninsula should remain free of nuclear weapons.
Wang's remarks underscore that most participants expect little more from the talks than agreement to meet again.
"I think it would be very good if out of these talks there was an agreement for additional talks," said Wendy Sherman, a former Bill Clinton administration adviser on North Korea.
The US said last October that North Korea had admitted to a clandestine program to enrich uranium to build nuclear weapons, violating agreements with Washington as well as its international commitments.
The isolated communist state has since thrown out UN nuclear inspectors, become the first state to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and restarted its Yongbyon plant, sparking fears it may have reprocessed spent fuel rods there into plutonium for weapons.
As the parties prepare for talks at the exclusive Diaoyutai state guest house from today to Friday, the US and North Korea remain poles apart.
Pyongyang has demanded concessions, including a non-aggression pact and an end to what it perceives as a hostile policy from Washington, before agreeing to anything on its nuclear program.
The US, saying it will not give in to blackmail, wants the unconditional, verifiable and irreversible scrapping of the North's nuclear program before budging on any concessions.
Japan and, to a lesser degree, South Korea lean with the US. Seoul has kept aid flowing to the North throughout the crisis and grows nervous when Washington talks tough.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS