Six-nation nuclear talks resume

A fresh round of international nuclear talks opened today with negotiators inching closer toward setting a timetable for North Korea’s disarmament after the biggest obstacle hindering discussions was removed – £13m (€19m) in frozen North Korean funds.

Envoys from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China gathered in Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to review progress made by five working groups established under a hard-won February 13 agreement.

The deal gives the North 60 days to shut down both its main reactor and a plutonium processing plant, and allow UN monitors to verify the closures. In return, the regime is to receive energy and economic assistance and a start toward normalising relations with the US and Japan.

“I think we’re in good shape for the 60 days,” US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top American envoy, told reporters at the end of the day. “It’s the next phase we really have to work on.”

Monday’s talks were possible because the biggest sticking point – North Korean funds frozen in the Macau lender Banco Delta Asia – had been resolved. Pyongyang had boycotted the international nuclear talks for more than a year after the U.S. alleged that it was using Banco Delta Asia to launder money and process counterfeit currency.

US Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said today that the money would be transferred into a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing to be “used solely for the betterment of the North Korean people.”

The Monetary Authority of Macau, a Chinese territory, said in a statement that it will release the funds “in accordance with the instructions of the account holders” but did not give any other details.

“With the BDA issue resolved, the biggest obstacle on the path ... has been removed,” South Korean envoy Chun Yung-woo said. “Our next major tasks will be to discuss how and how fast we should proceed.”

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said that, “the US achieved its objective of protecting the international financial system against a front for illicit activity. Our action also put on notice other financial institutions around the world that there will be crippling consequences if they facilitate weapons of proliferation or other illicit financial activity.”

Under the February 13 pact, North Korea is required to list all its nuclear programs after the 60 days.

A key obstacle could be its alleged uranium enrichment program, which the North has never publicly acknowledged having. South Korea is also to deliver 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North in exchange for the reactor shutdown.

Even though the largest stumbling block to progress was removed, new tensions arose Monday when North Korea questioned Japan’s qualifications to participate in the six-nation talks.

Japan’s lead envoy Kenichiro Sasae said his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan “questioned Japan’s commitment to meet its requirements and also questioned its qualifications to remain participants.”

Kim made the remarks during the opening session of the talks, reiterating a position the regime has stated before. Sasae did not elaborate on what Kim said.

“I told them that their argument is totally off the mark and the question about our qualification is not worth a comment,” Sasae told reporters. “I think nobody takes their argument seriously.”

In Vietnam earlier this month, talks between the two sides on normalising ties ended without progress after North Korean negotiators reacted angrily to Japan’s insistence that they must resolve the outstanding issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang in the 1970s and ’80s before improving their ties.

Other points of contention brought up by the North included Japanese sanctions over North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests last year and reparations for its 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

Japan yet to formally apologise to North Korea for its wartime actions, citing a lack of diplomatic ties. It also refuses to provide energy and economic aid or normalise ties unless North Korea shows sincerity over the abduction issues and makes progress.

“It’s about time for us to squarely tackle to resolve the problems between Japan and North Korea, and we urge North Korea to do so in an equally sincere manner,” Sasae said.

Hill, the US envoy, also urged North Korea to take the opportunity to improve ties with Japan.

“The DPRK has a lot of work to do, a lot of relationships to improve, a lot of relationships to repair,” he said, using the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.