UN nuclear chief in North Korea disarmament talks
UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei headed to North Korea today for talks on how to implement a landmark nuclear disarmament agreement.
The visit comes after Mr ElBaradei played down expectations that his trip heralded the communist country’s rapid disarmament.
Mr ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, stopped in Beijing on his way to Pyongyang for discussions on how to implement the agreement reached at six-nation talks last month.
He cautioned that efforts would be “a very incremental process. There’s a lot of confidence that needs to be built.”
Under the February 13 agreement, the North is to ultimately give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for economic aid and political concessions.
Meanwhile, former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung urged North Korea not to miss the opportunity to get aid and other concessions for ending its nuclear weapons programme.
Kim said if the North went back on its promises that it could face strong collective sanctions from the US and its four regional partners – South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
“North Korea also has a reason to seize the opportunity to achieve success in the six-party talks,” Kim said in remarks prepared for a meeting of international journalists in Seoul. He said “North Korea’s survival could be threatened” if it faced tough sanctions.
Kim, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his engagement policy toward the North, also asked the US to give North Korea what it wanted and embrace the isolated country as part of international society.
The US has agreed to resolve a dispute over its financial restrictions on a Macau bank that was accused of complicity in counterfeiting currency and money laundering by North Korea. The US move led Macau authorities to freeze about £12million in North Korean assets.
Kim’s comments come as officials from the US and the North prepared to meet their counterparts from South Korea, China, Russia and Japan this week in Beijing to discuss denuclearisation, economic and energy co-operation, as well as peace and security in Northeast Asia.
A working group session on economic and energy cooperation will be held at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing on Thursday, the South’s Foreign Ministry said.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the main American nuclear envoy, was scheduled to arrive tomorrow in Beijing for the working groups and will stay at least a week, said Susan Stevenson, a US Embassy spokeswoman in Beijing.
Mr Hill is likely to meet Mr ElBaradei, who is expected to return Wednesday to Beijing, though no official meeting has been set, according to the embassy.
The working group sessions will be followed by a full session of the six-nation North Korea nuclear talks next week.
