US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed her North Korean counterpart to move rapidly on new nuclear disarmament steps yesterday, but hailed the “good spirit” at unprecedented six-party talks.
Rice said she shook hands twice with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun, whom she met for the first time as she and her negotiating partners gave him a “very tough message” for Pyongyang to meet its obligations.
The pair met in Singapore with their counterparts from China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.
The US would like North Korea to agree to a US draft protocol setting out the arrangements for verifying the steps it has taken toward disarmament since a landmark agreement in February last year.
It hopes the protocol will be decided on early next month to allow for the start of verification in which experts would inspect North Korean plants, take soil samples, review documents and interview technical personnel.
“We didn’t get into specific timetables,” Rice told reporters afterward.
“Look, the spirit was good because the people believe we’ve made progress, but there is also a sense of urgency about moving on and a sense that we can’t afford another hiatus of several months,” she said.
Begun in 2003 before lapsing for three years, the six-country disarmament negotiations resumed after North Korea staged its first nuclear test in 2006.
The negotiations hit a deadlock at the end of last year when North Korea failed to meet a deadline to fully disable its weapons-grade plutonium plants and deliver a full account of its nuclear programs.
The deadlock was broken last month when North Korea handed over a partial account of its nuclear programs.
US President George W. Bush has begun the procedure to remove North Korea from a blacklist of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism as well as ease economic sanctions on North Korea, though most remain in place.
But North Korea said yesterday that Washington had not lived up to its side of the bargain.
Pak “emphasized the need for full implementation by the six parties [of] the respected obligations of each side” under previous agreements, North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Ri Tong-il said.
The principle was based on “action for action,” Pak said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS