Pyeongyang’s assertion is a new headache here

Home > National > Politics

print dictionary print

Pyeongyang’s assertion is a new headache here

South Korea was trying to regroup yesterday after North Korea’s declaration that it possessed nuclear weapons and has nearly finished reprocessing its spent nuclear fuel rods.
There were signs, however, that Seoul has not changed its plans to dispatch a delegation for a three-day ministerial meeting with North Korea scheduled to begin Sunday. The meeting would be a forum for discussing humanitarian aid and economic cooperation projects the two Koreas have undertaken.
The United States, North Korea and China met briefly early yesterday to wrap up three-country talks on North Korea’s nuclear problem in Beijing. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State James Kelly, who represented the United States at the talks, arrived in Seoul yesterday afternoon to assess the aftermath of the failed meetings.
After meeting Mr. Kelly yesterday evening, Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said, “If North Korea indeed has nuclear weapons, it is a serious violation of the North-South Declaration of Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and other international agreements.”
He spoke of a “serious threat” to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, but added that the South Korean government will continue to work with the United States and Japan to resolve the issue diplomatically and peacefully.
Mr. Kelly did not answer reporters’ questions about the new development in the long-running confrontation between the United States and North Korea over weapons of mass destruction. The American ambassador, Thomas Hubbard, said at Incheon International Airport before Mr. Kelly’s arrival that consultations with Seoul and Tokyo must take place before any further information about the talks will be released.
Officials here said they were not able to confirm reports from Washington early yesterday that North Korea’s delegate to the Beijing talks, Ri Gun, told Mr. Kelly of its nuclear weapons and reprocessed fuel. A senior official said there was no independent verification of the reported North Korean claims.
But Seoul appeared to have been caught by surprise by the reports, refusing to comment on whether it knew of the assertions before they were leaked to the press.
Officials here also denied that the Beijing talks had failed. They said the meeting was not the beginning of negotiations, one said, but merely a venue for an exchange of positions. Seoul has been under domestic political pressure because South Korea was excluded from the first round of talks. Mr. Yoon, the foreign minister, also said deadpan that because the talks were for the purpose of exchanging positions, they “have met expectations in that sense.”
Following a 50-minute meeting with the foreign minister, Mr. Kelly met with Deputy Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, his diplomatic counterpart here.
Mr. Kelly is scheduled to meet with Blue House national security adviser Ra Jong-yil and foreign policy adviser Ban Ki-moon this morning before leaving for Tokyo later in the day for consultations with the Japanese government. He will then return to Washington.
The government is expected to convene a National Security Council meeting after the consultations with Mr. Kelly end today.
The Unification Ministry had no public comment on the latest developments in Beijing. Minister Jeong Se-hyun met with his senior aides to examine the outcome of the meetings in Beijing.


by Kim Young-sae
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)