S-N Ministerial Talks Locked Over Nukes
2003-04-28
PYONGYANG - South and North Korea once again engaged in a tug-of-war over the North Korean nuclear issue on day two of the 10th ministerial talks here on Monday (April 28).
At the second plenary session held in Koryo Hotel in the morning, negotiators sought to cover differences on the nuclear issue. Seoul demanded a clear explanation on the possession of nuclear weapons but Pyongyang refrained from directly talking on the issue.
The North instead asked the South to discuss resumption of economic cooperation programs to help revitalize its flagging economy.
The two sides continued negotiations until late last night to produce a joint statement from the talks. South Korean delegates are scheduled to return to Seoul on Tuesday, ending the three-day meeting, the first major inter-Korean talks of the Roh Moo-hyun administration.
"Success of the talks hangs on the level of agreement on the nuclear issue the two Koreas can derive from the talks," a South Korean official said. He did not rule out the possibility of a rupture to the talks if the two sides fail to narrow their differences.
Seoul officials, led by Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, continued stressing their right to demand a nuclear-free peninsula from the North in accordance with the 1992 South-North Denuclearization Declaration.
Pyongyang's chief negotiator, Senior Cabinet Councilor Kim Ryong-song, reportedly told Jeong that North Korea has said all that it needs to during tripartite talks in Beijing last week.
In Beijing, the North is known to have presented a package solution to the U.S., asking for regime survival and the lifting of sanctions in return for scrapping its nuclear programs.
"We told them again that we will never condone North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, but the North Koreans insisted the issue be dealt between North Korea and the U.S. only," South Korean spokesman Shin Eon-sang said.
Chief delegates of the two sides also met privately for about an hour in the middle of the day.
On the economic and humanitarian front, the North's active attitude stood out from the talks, Seoul officials said.
In the keynote speech on the first day of the talks, North Korea proposed to hold a joint ceremony to mark the reconnection of the last parts of the Seoul-Sinuiju and East Sea railways and roads as soon as possible.
Pyongyang in addition asked that the two sides start construction of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex soon and requested the regularization of unification-related ceremonies. It proposed free transit of commercial ships' passage in respective waters, as well as opening of some parts of the East Sea to South Korean fishermen.
Seoul, in addition to the projects raised by North Korea, spoke of the war prisoners and abductee issue before Pyongyang, humanitarian issues with which the North has so far refused to deal.
"We are particularly keen to include clauses on prisoners-of-war and abductees in the joint statement," a South Korean negotiator said.
The North in the meantime continued to stress that the two Koreas should reaffirm commitment to the June 15 Joint Declaration signed by president Kim Dae-jung and National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il in 2000.
"North Korea ... seems to feel that if inter-Korean ties are cut off, it may be isolated from the international community following its concession to possessing nuclear weapons at the Beijing trilateral talks," the Seoul official said.
Source : www.korea.net
