North Korea said yesterday it was ready to resume nuclear crisis talks at an early date if Washington agreed ahead of time to reward it for refreezing its nuclear weapons facilities.
As Seoul expressed doubt that new talks could take place this month as was initially hoped, Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said that without a prior agreement, the talks could be even scrapped altogether.
"The six-way talks may be resumed at an early date or may be delayed or scuttled depending on how preparations are made for their resumption," the newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "[The] ball is in the US court."
Months of diplomacy attempting to set up talks in December collapsed after Washington and Pyongyang failed to narrow their differences concerning the scope of the negotiations.
And efforts to convene the talks this month may not succeed, a top South Korean policymaker said.
President Roh Moo-Hyun's National Security Advisor Ra Jong-Yil said that scheduling challenges were posed by the extended holiday season in Russia that lasts well into January and Lunar New Year celebrations in China in late January.
Russia and China are six-way talks participants along with the US, Japan and the two Koreas.
"It may be difficult for the talks to be held in January because Russia has its Christmas holiday and China's Lunar New Year holiday is in January," Ra told journalists.
Diplomatic efforts to bring about a new round of talks in December unravelled amid differences over the scope of the negotiations.
North Korea accused the US of time-wasting, while Washington, which insists that Pyongyang must verifiably scrap its nuclear weapons, said North Korea had set preconditions.
Rodong Shinmun called for agreement in advance on what it referred to as "action at the first phase," which would include a nuclear freeze and concessions from Washington and its allies.
The commentary reflected demands made in a North Korean foreign ministry statement a month ago that referred to agreement on "first-phase actions" including the lifting of sanctions against North Korea and a resumption of energy aid in return for the nuclear freeze.
North Korea agreed in 1994 to mothball its Yongbyon nuclear complex, 90km north of Seoul, under a nuclear freeze agreement with the US, but fired up the facilities after the latest nuclear crisis erupted in October 2002.
Two US delegations are heading for North korea this week at the invitation of the communist state in an indication that Pyongyang is eager to engage Washington.
The US government has distanced itself from the delegations amid reports that one of the teams made up of academics and a scientist -- the other is from Congress -- is scheduled to become the first American group to visit Yongbyon since international inspectors were kicked out a year ago.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS