North Korea's envoy to international disarmament talks said yesterday that his country was ready to work on eliminating atomic weapons from the Korean Peninsula, while the US reassured the communist nation at the revived negotiations that it has no intention of invading to end the nuclear standoff.
"The fundamental thing is to make real progress in realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Key-wan said at the opening session of the talks in Beijing.
"This requires very firm political will and a strategic decision of the parties concerned that have interests in ending the threat of nuclear war," he said. "We are fully ready and prepared for that."
In the past, North Korea has said denuclearization of the peninsula also includes removing alleged US nuclear weapons from South Korea. Both Washington and Seoul have denied any such weapons are present.
The talks that began yesterday are the fourth such six-nation negotiations, which also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US. They are reconvening after a 13-month boycott by the North, which cited "hostile" US policies.
North Korea agreed to return to the talks following a meeting earlier this month between Kim and the main US envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who assured the North that Washington recognized its sovereignty.
Yesterday, Hill repeated those pledges.
"We view [North Korea's] sovereignty as a matter of fact. The US has absolutely no intention to invade or attack" North Korea, Hill said in his opening remarks.
Unlike the previous rounds, which were scheduled for several days, no end date has been set for this week's resumed negotiations.
Hill said yesterday his delegation would remain in Beijing "so long as we are making progress in these talks." He has previously said he doesn't expect this round to be the last of the six-nation talks.
"We do not have the option of walking away from this problem," he said.
Hill also said the US would address the North's security and energy concerns after the nuclear issue is resolved.
"Nuclear weapons will not make [North Korea] more secure," he said. "And in fact, on the contrary, nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula will only increase tension in the region."
In a nod to Pyongyang, Hill said if North Korea "permanently, fully and verifiably" dismantles its nuclear programs, the US and other countries would offer measures "consistent with the principle of `words for words and actions for actions.'" That principle was contained in a statement at the end of the last round of talks in June last year and been repeatedly invoked by North Korea as one of its demands.
In a departure from previous meetings, Hill met his North Korean counterpart on Monday ahead of the official opening of the talks.
The US and North Korea held another meeting later yesterday after the talks opened, a US embassy spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. No details of their discussion were released.
At the talks' opening, South Korea's envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, repeated yesterday his nation's offer of massive electricity aid to the North if it agrees to disarm.
In Seoul, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told a meeting of the ruling Uri Party that discussions on details of the offer to the North could begin as soon as Pyongyang agrees to abandon nuclear weapons.
However, he conceded North Korea would likely make a counterproposal to Seoul's offer -- which experts point out would effectively place control of the North's power supply in its capitalist rival's hands.
North Korea has demanded aid and security guarantees from Washington in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons. The US says it won't offer concessions until North Korea's nuclear weapons program is verifiably dismantled.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique