South wants no delays in 3-party talks on the North’s nuclear efforts

Top South Korean national security and foreign affairs officials in Seoul ruled out the possibility of postponement or cancellation of the three-way talks in Beijing between North Korea, United States and China despite North Korea’s ambiguous statement Friday about nuclear fuel reprocessing.
“Our interest is that the planned talks on the North Korean nuclear program go on,” said Ra Jong-yil,the presidential adviser on national security. “I do not see the three-way talks being pushed back,” he said.
Ban Ki-moon, the presidential adviser for foreign policy added, “The plan right now is to go ahead as scheduled. South Korea and the United States are discussing issues on that basis.”
Despite the air of confidence, sources in Seoul said they expected no decision until at least Monday in Washington, after U.S. President George W. Bush wraps up his Easter holiday.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said immediately after the fuzzy North Korean announcement that it was either already reprocessing spent fuel or was about to begin, “Once we have a clear sense of the facts and the views of our friends and allies, we will make a decision about how to proceed.”
Most government and private North Korea watchers here interpreted the North Korean statement as posturing before the talks to demonstrate that it had not been cowed into attending them. North Korea had earlier demanded “knee-to-knee” talks with the United States alone, but agreed to the three-way formula with China after Beijing began to apply pressure on its communist ally.
U.S. media carried similar speculative comments, but also reported rancor between the State Department and the Defense Department over next steps. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently commented that the United States has nothing to offer Pyeongyang in return for ending its nuclear programs.
Separately, the North Korea Central News Agency reported on Saturday that Vice Marshal Jo Myong-rok, the North’s second-ranking military officer, will visit China from today through Wednesday. The state-run media gave no reason for Mr. Jo’s visit, but North Korea watchers noted that Marshal Jo has previously acted as an envoy for the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. In October 2000, he met with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington.

by Kim Ji-soo