No early solution seen, as diplomats seek a way out

South Korean officials have spent a third day in Pyeongyang, their meetings overshadowed by last week's revelation of North Korea's secret nuclear development program. By neither confirming nor denying such a program or its intentions, observers here said Monday, North Korea may be probing for a way out that could provide it some gains. The resolution may be quite some time off, as Seoul and Washington officials seem ready to let diplomacy run its full course.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry's head of Asian-Pacific affairs, Hitoshi Tanaka, arrived in Seoul to begin consultations. The discussions are believed to be in preparation for Saturday's meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Mexico. The U.S., Japanese and South Korean leaders will discuss the North Korean nuclear issue.

The Blue House said Monday that recent reports about a possible repudiation of the 1994 agreement by Washington had been "distorted," indicating that it did not believe suspension of heating oil supply and nuclear reactor construction was part of Washington's plan.

A U.S. State Department official speaking to the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday noted that the focus of four U.S. television appearances over the weekend by Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice was that nothing has yet been decided. Mr. Powell said, "It is hard to see what you do with an agreement" when the other party to it says it is null.

Some observers here took North Korean head of state Kim Yong-nam's use of the term, "security issue," instead of "nuclear," as an indication that Pyeongyang may be about to bring up the presence of U.S. forces in South Korea in a package of topics for talks with the United States. Although it is questionable that Washington, which has said that the current situation will not be a rerun of 1993 and 1994 and that it will be less open to a deal this time, would be drawn into such wide-scope discussions, the North may be seeking for a way to reinstate the 1994 agreement. "Pyeongyang may claim that uranium enrichment was an inevitable move considering the delay in the completion of light-water reactors," said a researcher at the Korean Institute for National Unification, Jeung Young-tai.

A Radio Pyeongyang broadcast said that the North had complied "more than 100 percent" with the 1994 agreement.

A diplomatic source in Washington said there is a concern in the U.S. administration that a decision to completely break from the agreement might prompt an acceleration of the North's nuclear weapons program.

by Lee Young-jong, Oh Young-hwan