6TH LD: 6 nations mired by N. Korea-U.S. gaps in final stage

Japan Policy & Politics, March 1, 2004

BEIJING, Feb. 27 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH FRESH INFO)

The six parties to talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions increased last-ditch efforts Friday to bridge the gaps between the North and the United States, while confirming the need to compile a joint statement and set up a working group to achieve the goal of peacefully resolving the 16-month crisis.

Delegates admitted that sharp differences still remain over the drafting process for a statement, because North Korea has continued to deny its suspected uranium-enrichment scheme for nuclear weapons and refused to completely dismantle its nuclear programs.

But China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia and the U.S. are stepping up efforts to complete the joint document in time for a closing ceremony to be held from 11 a.m. on Saturday, a Japanese official said.

At issue is the North's offer to freeze only nuclear ''weapons'' programs in exchange for compensation such as energy aid. The U.S. and Japan have demanded that Pyongyang dismantle all nuclear programs, including an alleged uranium-enrichment scheme.

The U.S. hinted at wrapping up the current round only with an accord to continue dialogue if the North makes no concession. It apparently hardened its stance after North Korea issued a statement Thursday blasting the U.S. for adhering to its position of urging Pyongyang to first give up its nuclear programs and stressing this is preventing the talks from achieving a breakthrough.

The six nations are now making efforts to include in the document their principles on North Korea's nuclear abolition and its freezing of nuclear activities as well as setting ways to continue the dialogue process, the Japanese official said.

''However, there has been no agreement yet,'' the official said after the third-day plenary session.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said there are ''differences, difficulties and contradictions'' but the six tabled proposals in a bid to defuse the situation.

Asked if there has been any change regarding North Korea's stance on the freeze and uranium enrichment, the Japanese official said, ''North Korea has not changed its position.''

The Japanese official also said that Japan has been demanding that the joint statement define North Korea's freeze proposal as the first step toward complete dismantlement of all nuclear programs.

The Russian delegation chief, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, called the difference a matter of ''interpretation and not a difference of positions,'' Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said.

Losyukov also told the agency there is an ''extremely high possibility'' that the six countries will adopt a statement being drafted Friday.

But negotiation sources said the U.S. told Japan and some other countries it wants to wrap up the ongoing round with just a confirmation of the parties' willingness to continue dialogue in an on-and-off way unless North Korea pledges to completely dismantle its nuclear programs.

Amid mixed signals, the six-nation chief delegates and their deputies continued their final efforts late Friday in separate meetings to draft the joint statement, establish a working group, turn the six-way talks into a regular forum and set ways to continue the dialogue process, the Japanese official said.

The six countries may conclude the talks without adopting a joint statement if they fail to find at least some way toward a breakthrough.

Generally speaking, the Chinese spokesman said Beijing does not see the talks as a failure just because the six cannot adopt a statement, adding that continuing the dialogue process is ''essential.''

Host China presented a draft joint statement Thursday evening in a drafting session by the deputies, but the U.S. and Japan rejected it because it failed to include the wording ''complete, verifiable and irreversible'' on Pyongyang's dismantling of all nuclear programs, the sources said.

In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told reporters that Japan will continue to press North Korea to abandon all its nuclear programs, including an alleged uranium enrichment scheme, in a ''complete, verifiable and irreversible'' manner, indicating that the proposed freezing and dismantling of only nuclear weapons, exempting nuclear programs for peaceful use, are unacceptable.

Referring to offers China, South Korea and Russia made Thursday to provide energy aid to North Korea, Kawaguchi said Japan understands and supports the offers but has no intention of joining them.

The U.S. also expressed understanding regarding the aid offers but refused to participate in them.

In Washington, a White House official reiterated the U.S. position of rejecting the North Korean proposal to freeze only its nuclear weapons programs and urged the North Koreans to ''give up all their nuclear programs.''

The six-nation talks were inaugurated last August in the Chinese capital in a bid to resolve the nuclear crisis, which heightened in October 2002 when the U.S. said North Korea admitted to conducting a secret program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.