North Korea's nuclear envoy said yesterday that his country won't unilaterally abandon its atomic weapons program after two days of meetings with his US counterpart failed to produce a date on restarting six-nation disarmament talks.
There had been hopes that the discussions between North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing would result in an agreement on when to resume the multi-nation negotiations that have been stalled for over a year.
But Kim, after meeting South Korea's main negotiator Chun Yung-woo yesterday in Beijing, said Pyongyang still remains committed to an agreement made last year on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
PHOTO: AP
"Our denuclearization is the great leader's [Kim Il-sung's] `dying instruction' and we are ready to implement our commitment in the Sept. 19 joint statement," he said, referring to the leader of North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994.
Kim added that his country "cannot unilaterally abandon" its atomic weapons program at this point.
Hill said he presented ideas to Kim on how the North Korean regime -- which conducted its first nuclear test last month -- could disarm.
"These are ideas designed to make rapid progress," Hill told reporters before flying to Washington, with a brief stop in Tokyo. "We discussed them and they're taking them back to Pyongyang and we hope to hear from them soon."
He said dates for the next round of six-nation discussions were raised but gave no details. The China-hosted talks involve the US, North Korea, Japan, South Korea and Russia, which has not sent an envoy to Beijing for the informal talks.
"The purpose is that when we start the talks, that we really do make progress," Hill said. "The purpose of the six-party talks is not to talk, it's to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Pressure to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table has increased since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, which raised severe security concerns in Japan, and broader fears it could trigger a regional arms race.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said his country has the technological know-how to produce a nuclear weapon, but no immediate plans to do so.
"Japan is capable of producing nuclear weapons," Aso told a parliamentary committee on security issues yesterday. "But we are not saying we have plans to possess nuclear weapons."
Aso, who has called for discussion of Japan's non-nuclear policy, also said Japan's pacifist constitution does not forbid possession of an atomic bomb for defense.
The Kyodo News agency cited unidentified people at the Beijing talks as saying that Kim demanded that the US lift financial sanctions and freeze UN sanctions that were imposed after the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test.
Hill said the issue of Washington-imposed sanctions was discussed but he made it clear that denuclearization had to be addressed first.
"The best way for them to get out of sanctions is to get out of nuclear programs," he said. "Unless they denuclearize, nothing is going to be possible."
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