North Korea said yesterday it may be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, as fresh six-nation talks began here amid warnings that four years of tough diplomacy on Pyongyang was at a crossroads.
Four months after North Korea conducted its first atomic test to back its claims of being a nuclear power, the isolated nation's chief atomic envoy said disarming was a possibility, but that the onus rested with the US.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said he was prepared to talk about reviving a deal made in the six-way talks in September 2005, under which North Korea would scrap its nuclear program in return for aid, energy benefits and security guarantees.
"We are ready to discuss the initial steps, but whether the US will give up its hostile policy against us and come out for mutual peaceful co-existence will be the basis for our judgement," Kim told reporters ahead of the talks. "There are still lots of contentious points yet to be settled. It depends on how we settle those contentious points. We'll have to wait and see."
Before the on-again, off-again negotiations resumed yesterday afternoon, US envoy Christopher Hill said he believed North Korea could be enticed into recommitting to the 2005 deal.
The agreement fell apart only two months after it was signed amid North Korean protests over unrelated US sanctions imposed against it for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting.
Although the sanctions standoff remains, Hill said he expected Kim would negotiate this week on reviving the deal, following positive direct talks between the pair in Berlin last month.
"I have every reason to believe that, but it's really between him and his boss," Hill said.
China is the host of the six-way talks, which began in 2003 with the initial aim of getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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