May 23rd marks the 100th day since the February 13 Agreement in Beijing which promised an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
The February 13 Agreement which began as the critical key to ending North Korea’s nuclear issue, is currently on the verge of being labeled a despicable strategy. This is because not a single step has been made forward to implement the agreement.
At the 3rd round of the 5th Six Party Talks, the 6 member states agreed for South Korea to provide North Korea with 50,000tons of fuel in accordance to the agreement where North Korea would shut down its nuclear facilities within 60 days. Once its nuclear programs had been completely reported and measures to disable the facilities begun, a further 950,000tons of fuel for energy and economic support would be given to North Korea and this burden shared by the remaining 5 member states.
Furthermore, 5 different working groups will be formed to finally implement the Sept 19 Mutual Declaration. These working groups included, ▲denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ▲economic and energy cooperation ▲normalization of U.S-North Korea relations ▲normalization of Japan-North Korea relations and ▲peace and security in the North East Asia region.
▶ How is the February 13 Agreement going?
The South Korean government was the first to take action following the agreement. On February 27, Inter-Korea Cabinet Talks were held between South and North Korea for 4 days. The talks ended with South Korea stating that it would push to resume its rice and fertilizer aid to the North, as it continued to monitor the implementation of the February 13 Agreement.
However, irrelevant of whether or not North Korea made any progress in disabling its nuclear facilities, the South Korean government finalized proposals that resumed sending 30,000tons of fertilizer to North Korea until June. At the last Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee meeting in April, an agreement was made to aid North Korea with 40,000tons of rice and a loan of $80mn worth of raw materials for its light industry.
Meanwhile, the 50,000tons of fuel that the South Korean government contracted with a Chinese shipping vessel to send to North Korea following the initial measures ultimately fell through, with the government losing 3.6bn won for breach of contract. No one can deny that haste decisions were made between the South-North Korean relationship.
5 working groups formed to implement September 19th Joint Statement loses its first ground
On March 5th, a meeting was held in New York for the normalization of U.S.-North Korea relations working group with Christopher Hill, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister. Additionally, the normalization of North Korea-Japan relations working group opened talks in Hanoi on March 7th. Following, working groups for economic and energy cooperation and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula opened also.
On the March 13th, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed Elbaradei visited North Korea and the 6th round of Six Party Talks was spurred to take place on the 19th though it did not actually happen.
While the 5 member states of the February 13 Agreement busily run around trying to implement the agreement, the ultimate star of the party North Korea, simply stands with it’s arms crossed observing the fuss.
In particular, North Korea argues that it will not disable the Yongbyun atomic reactor until the funds caught in BDA are released and remitted by the U.S.
▶ Slow progress resulting from BDA remittances
For a while it seemed that the walls had been broken with the U.S. decision to release North Korea’s BDA funds. However, the moment the Bank of China (BOC) who had initially agreed to transferring North Korea’s funds denied the transaction due to lack of trust, the situation once again became complicated. The remittance of North Korea’s fund has yet begun another hindering issue.
As no banks offer to transfer North Korea’s funds believing the money is correlated to illegal sources, North Korea has began to wait upon the U.S. to take action. Presently, Wachovia Bank, the fourth largest bank holding company in the U.S. is known to be drawing up proposals for the remittances.
While North Korea continued to prolong time on the basis of the BDA issues, the initial 60 days for the preliminary measures of the February 13 Agreement slipped by unnoticed. Though the member states of the Six Party Talks do not seem to be overtly bothered by the date and time duration, undoubtedly confidence in the February 13 Agreement has been scarred.
Excluding North Korea, the remaining 5 member states have implemented the working groups as proposed by the February 13 Agreement. Though it may feel somewhat haste, the South Korean government even prepared proposals for situations post-North Korea’s preliminary measures.
In order to satisfy the requests from the U.S. and North Korea, not only did the government renounce criticisms by the nation and BDA funds released, but enormous efforts have been made to maintain consistent dialogue with North Korea.
Until now, the key holder of the agreement North Korea has not even made one single effort in keeping its promise. In the case the BDA remittance issue is not clearly resolved, the implementation of the February 13 Agreement by North Korea is rather uncertain.
On a different note, some worry that the longer the agreement is dragged, the less effective the agreement may be. Others criticize that U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s comment that U.S. patience was not infinite was merely a bluff called from within a ditch.
For now, the U.S. has little choice but to wait and see what North Korea chooses to do. As time moves on, some argue that the U.S. is responsible as an agreement was drafted favorable to North Korea.
