North Korea threatened to slow down disablement of its main nuclear facility yesterday after Washington said energy aid to the reclusive state had been suspended because of failed talks on verifying the North’s operations.
US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said all five countries negotiating with North Korea — Japan, Russia, China, the US and South Korea — had agreed that fuel shipments would not go forward until there was progress on a so-called verification protocol with Pyongyang.
“This is an action-for-action process,” McCormack told reporters in Washington. “Future fuel shipments aren’t going to move forward absent a verification regime ... they [the North Koreans] understand that.”
North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan was quoted by Kyodo news agency as telling reporters in Beijing that Pyongyang would “probably adjust the pace of disablement at nuclear facilities if [the aid] is suspended.”
The US negotiator with North Korea, Christopher Hill, returned to Washington after the failed Beijing talks and briefed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday, said McCormack, adding that Hill would continue trying to get a deal.
“There’s the opportunity for North Korea to sign on to this verification protocol,” he said. “That still exists. We’ll see. The ball is in their court.”
Under an agreement last year, up to 1 million tonnes of heavy fuel aid was promised to North Korea as a reward for progress on denuclearization. Countries outside the five-nation group also have volunteered to supply North Korea with energy as a reward.
By the middle of last month, North Korea had received about half of the amount promised, the State Department said.
An unspecified amount of fuel was delivered this month by Russia and will finish being offloaded in North Korea next week, State Department spokesman Robert McInturff told reporters.
But McCormack said Russia made it clear in this week’s talks in Beijing that any future shipments would not be made until North Korea agreed to the verification protocol.
On the sidelines of talks with China and Japan and Beijing yesterday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he expected nuclear talks to restart after US president-elect Barack Obama takes office.
“Once the United States has the Obama administration, full-fledged discussions are expected,” Lee told reporters. “The North Korean nuclear issue turned out to be 10 years of disappointment, but it is also true that we have progressed little by little.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS