Seoul looks for a 'leading role'

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Seoul looks for a 'leading role'

Trying to keep diplomacy alive, Seoul suggested yesterday that North Korea has not yet violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Yesterday Pyeongyang moved 1,000 new fuel rods into its nuclear reactor building at Yeongbyeon, according to an AFP report quoting sources at the International Atomic Energy Agency. Pyeongyang also continued other work that could lead to a restart of the reactor.

Seoul reiterated its commitment to a peaceful resolution of the nuclear situation through cooperation with the international community.

President Kim Dae-jung met with his national security officials and with an aide to President-elect Roh Moo-hyun. He reportedly said Pyeongyang's latest moves are a cause for "deep concern" and are "absolutely unacceptable." He said the South Korean government should play a "leading role" in the matter.

The government, however, is apparently at a loss as to just what that "leading role" should be or what specifically Seoul should press for. When asked for details, a senior official here said only that Seoul would try to "convince, urge and persuade" Pyeongyang to give up its nuclear program. He lamented, however, that even trying to get Washington to talk to Pyeongyang is difficult; Washington, he said, would consider any urging to open a dialogue as unwelcome pressure. Washington has said there is no point in negotiating with a nation that continues to break its past commitments. There is little likelihood of dialogue, the official said, until the North abandons its uranium enrichment program. Pyeongyang's admission in October that it had such a program, apparently started in the late 1990s after committing to freeze its nuclear programs, led Washington to halt any further high-level talks.

Senior South Korean and Japanese diplomats met in Tokyo yesterday to discuss possible responses.

An official here said that the continued presence of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors at the North Korean nuclear site suggests that the North has not yet violated any basic obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Officials here said there had been no North Korean activity around the spent fuel reprocessing laboratory, where it is thought attempts to recover plutonium for weapons had been made.

by Kim Young-sae

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