North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed willingness to engage in “bilateral and multilateral talks,” a news report said yesterday, a strong indication the country could rejoin stalled negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea has insisted on one-on-one talks with the US over its nuclear programs since April, when it pulled out of six-nation negotiations involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
Washington, which has consistently called for North Korea to resume those negotiations, is nevertheless studying whether to engage in direct talks, saying they could help get the North back to the six-nation table.
China, North Korea’s principal ally, has hosted the disarmament talks since 2003.
“North Korea would like to solve relevant issues through bilateral and multilateral talks,” Xinhua news agency quoted Kim telling an envoy sent by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Kim also told the envoy, Dai Bingguo (戴秉國), that North Korea “is committed to safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula,” the news agency reported from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
North Korea has said it cannot give up its nuclear arsenal as long as the US continues with what it says is a “hostile policy” and plans for a nuclear attack. Washington denies it has any hostile intentions.
In a letter Dai handed to Kim, Hu reiterated Beijing’s stance that the Korean peninsula should be denuclearized and said China is ready to spare no efforts to work with North Korea to realize that goal, Xinhua said.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young declined to comment on Kim’s reported remarks.
Dai and top Chinese nuclear envoy Wu Dawei (武大偉) returned to Beijing later yesterday, North Korea said.
Yesterday’s meeting came as the US studies a recent proposal by North Korea for direct talks with Washington on its nuclear weapons programs.
US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Thursday the US would “make some judgments in the very near future” on the bilateral talks offer after consultations with other countries.
South Korea says it does not oppose direct US-North Korea talks if they are aimed at resuming the six-party talks, but South Korean officials, including President Lee Myung-bak, have cautioned against any hasty optimism, saying North Korea has shown no willingness to disarm.
They say recent conciliatory gestures by the North — including a resumption of joint projects with South Korea and the release of US and South Korean detainees — came because it feels the pain of UN sanctions on its weapons exports and financial dealings that were imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in May.
Earlier yesterday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said North Korea’s calls for direct talks with Washington were related to its strategy to gain international recognition of its possession of nuclear weapons.
“The reason North Korea is repeatedly insisting on direct talks is because it wants to be recognized as a nuclear state in order to proceed with arms reduction talks with the US,” Yu said in a speech at the Korea Chamber of Commerce, his office 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