[imText1]The 5th round of six party talks ended on the 13th with an official announcement stating that an agreement had been made by the six participating nations to initiate the preliminary measures implementing the September 19th Joint Statement.
Under the agreement, North Korea will shut down its nuclear facilities within 60 days and in return South Korea will provide 50,000 tons of fuel. In the case North Korea grants additional measures such as disabling its nukes, then the 5 nations will merge and provide yet another 95,000 tons of energy supply and economic aid.
In order to implement the September Joint Statement, the six member states have agreed for the ▲ denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ▲ collaboration of economy and energy ▲ normalization of U.S.-North Korea relations and ▲ the formation of a five party working group for peace and security in the North East Asian region.
After the initial 60 days, a working group will convene to specifically discuss the details on the dismantlement of nukes, energy supply and any other pending issues.
This is the first time since the September 19th Joint Declaration in 2005 that progress has been made, which has also opened the path for discussions on the complete dismantlement of nuclear weapons. Many argue that the negotiations made this round has made greater steps towards placing a time restraint on the abolishment of nuclear facilities in comparison to the Geneva Agreement.
However, even after North Korea dismantles its 5MW atomic reactor, it must still surpass the stage of explicitly reporting the complete dismantlement of its nuclear facilities and programs. Even though North Korea may demolish its nuclear facilities, it is possible that the reports will be questioned. Moreover, there is a possibility that conflicting views on enriched uranium program and amounts of plutonium extracted during the initial stages will arise.
In particular, another blemish to this agreement would be that no negotiations were made for the permission to reaffirm that North Korea had in fact disabled its nuclear weapons. In the case that the agreement breaks down, without having even attempted to approach North Korea’s plutonium and nuclear reactors, the nuclear facilities may be reactivated.
With this agreement, the North Koreans were provided with the perfect opportunity to gain two major presents which was firstly, the removal of economic sanctions against North Korea and secondly, energy support.
On the other hand, it seems that the Bush Administration just escaped criticism from the public arguing that the U.S. opened the doors to the resolution of North Korea’s nukes. Nonetheless, if dismantling the nuclear does not start according to the requirements of this agreement, this agreement may be criticized as a lose to political leverage and diplomatic principles.
