Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=02/10/05

TYPE=Q & A

TITLE=NORTH KOREA / NUCLEAR

NUMBER=2-322464

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=LUXEMBOURG

CONTENT=

Q. What is the United States' reaction to the

announcement by North Korea today that it is

leaving the six-party talks and that it has a

nuclear arsenal?

A. While the United States has long believed that

North Korea possesses a nuclear arsenal, and in fact, the North Koreans themselves have made assertions to this effect at previous national conferences so that comes at no surprise. But officials are some what taken a back by the decision by the North Koreans, at least, their announced intention of the North Koreans to withdrawal from the six-party talks. The United States has offered North Korea at those Chinese-mediated discussions security assurances. Secretary of State Rice, in an interview that she has just completed in Luxembourg, has urged North Korea, in fact, to reassess its decision. She says it's the wrong path to take; it's just another indication of North Korea's isolation. She says the United States will consult with the other parties in the six-party talks about where to go from here.

Q. What is the status of the six-party talks?

A. Well, the six-party talks have not actually convened in a formal session since last June. I think you will recall, at that time, there was a decision in principle to reconvene these talks with working group meetings and then another full-scale session in September. But North Korea stayed away -- never gave its assent to return to the talks. And, there was a widespread presumption in the Bush administration that North Korea was standing back and waiting to see the results of the American election which, of course, resulted in the re-election of President Bush.

Q. What is the United States offering North Korea at the six-party talks?

A. The United States has presented an initiative at the six-party talks that basically provides for security assurances for North Korea, if it will agree to disarm. The United States has also said that, in the process of an arrangement under which North Korea moves for a verifiable end to its nuclear program, other parties in the six-party talks will be essentially permitted to extend aid to North Korea, reconstruction aid, of course, the country is quite economically strapped. At the end of the process, the United States said that it is basically holding out a new relationship with North Korea that could include aid and increased diplomatic recognition. But this would come only at the end of a process that provided for the verifiable and irreversible end to North Korea's nuclear program.

NEB / DG / TM / WD