North Korea insisted yesterday that it would not dismantle its nuclear-weapons program until the US gives it civilian nuclear reactors, immediately casting doubt on a disarmament agreement reached a day earlier during international talks.
Washington reiterated its rejection of the demand and joined China in urging North Korea to stick to the agreement announced on Monday in which it pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs in exchange for economic aid and security assurances.
North Korea's surprise move underlined its unpredictable nature and deflated some optimism from the Beijing agreement, the first since negotiations began in August 2003.
"The US should not even dream of the issue of [North Korea's] dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing [the reactors], a physical guarantee for confidence-building," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
US officials dismissed the demand.
"This is not the agreement that they signed and we'll give them some time to reflect on the agreement they signed," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in New York.
North Korea had demanded since the latest round of six-party talks began last week in the Chinese capital that it be given a light-water reactor -- a type less easily diverted for weapons use -- in exchange for disarming.
US officials opposed the idea, maintaining North Korea could not be trusted with any nuclear program. The issue was sidestepped in Monday's agreement, with participants saying they would discuss it later -- "at an appropriate time."
They also agreed to reconvene in early November to discuss the agreement's implementation.
North Korea, however, chose to immediately press the issue, in effect introducing a major condition on its pledge to disarm.
Japan swiftly joined the US in rejecting the demand.
"The Japanese side has continuously said that North Korea's demand is unacceptable," Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters after the North Korea's announcement.
China, North Korea's closest ally in the talks, urged Pyongyang to join the other negotiating partners in implementing their commitments in "a serious manner."
South Korea remained optimistic, with its point man on North Korea relations saying the country's latest statement was not likely to derail the Beijing agreement.
Other countries at the Beijing talks made clear that the reactor could only be discussed after the North rejoins the Non-Proliferation Treaty and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency -- which North Korea pledged to do in Monday's agreement.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli emphasized earlier in Washington that the "appropriate time" for discussing the reactor meant only after North Korea complies with the conditions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) was asked in Beijing whether North Korea might have misunderstood the order of commitments laid out in the statement on Monday.
"The common statement was adopted by all six parties and I don't think North Korea has any misunderstanding," Qin said.
also see story:
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS