[imText1]On Thursday, the chair of six-party talks, China, circulated a draft of “work plan” among participating nations.
The reason for China doing so before negotiation even resumes is last December’s six-party meeting in Beijing and last month’s NK-US bilateral talks in Berlin. Both sides realized each other’s point and felt necessary to focus on fundamental issue for efficiency’s sake.
The “work plan,” or rough draft of agreement among the six states, would reportedly include stop operation and shutdown of North Korea’s five nuclear facilities including that of Yongbyon reactor in two or three months while equivalent amount of energy provided by other states simultaneously.
China’s suggestion was welcomed by the other four countries, sources said. But North Korea’s reaction is not known at this point.
Head delegate from Pyongyang, Kim Kye Gwan expressed somewhat energetic attitude by saying “We are ready to discuss fulfillment of the first phase of plan in 9.19 Joint Declaration, in which Korean peninsula’s denuclearization is elucidated.”
Also, amid both optimistic and pessimistic expectations, ‘rewards’ for North Korea’s freezing of nuclear reactors and accepting international inspection get attention from the rest of the participating states.
Chris Hill US Assistant Secretary of State said “Fuel aid is not the sole burden of US.” Although not opposed to offer fuel to North Korea, Washington wants to share it among allies. Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo expressed his desire to bring the abduction issue in the talks. Russia is reluctant to participate in fuel aid due to its already huge Soviet-era loan to the country. Thus, some South Koreans worry over the possibility of Seoul being forced to provide a huge amount of heavy oil to Pyongyang.
Another controversial topic is how fast North Korea would “freeze” its nuclear reactors. The five other countries definitely demand NK to ‘shut down’ the reactors. Shutting down could mean denunciation of nukes in a few months, while ‘freezing’ indicate the period to be as long as 5 to 6 years, which is unacceptable by other countries. Hill mentioned about ‘visible result’ in three months.
Moreover, there would be much more reward demand by North Korea as talks go by. It is likely to include abolition of sanctions, revocation of “terrorism-support state” status, resumption of light water reactor construction and other forms of economic assistance.
