Home | World and National News
Home
| World and National News
Rice pushes N. Korea for proof
By Matthew Lee
Associated Press
Jul 24, 2008
SINGAPORE - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed North Korea yesterday to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear-weapons program, as the two countries held cabinet-level talks for the first time in four years. Rice told Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun that his nation must move quickly to prove it had told the truth about its past atomic activities if it wanted to improve ties with the United States and North Korea's immediate neighbors and end its international isolation.
"We didn't get into specific timetables, but the spirit was good because people believe we have made progress," she said after the meeting on the sidelines of an Asian security forum in Singapore.
"There is also a sense of urgency about moving forward and a sense that we can't afford to have another hiatus," Rice said of her talks with Pak and the foreign ministers of the four other nations involved in the effort - China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said Washington wanted the verification plan put in place around Aug. 10. The actual process will take months to complete.
In a brief, one-on-one exchange, Rice reminded Pak of the importance the United States placed on verification and also on North Korea's resolving the issue of Japanese citizens it abducted in the 1980s, Hill said after the 80-minute meeting.
Diplomats had expected Pak to present at least an initial response to the four-page proposed "verification protocol" that was given to North Korea this month after it delivered a declaration containing details of its nuclear program in June.
Rice said there had been a lot of discussion about the verification proposal - which calls for intrusive inspections, interviews with scientists, and a role for the U.N. nuclear watchdog - but she would not say whether the North had moved beyond preliminary objections to some of the elements.
The meeting "was actually very good," she said. "It wasn't a standoff with people just stating their positions. ... It was interactive."
Yet just hours before the talks began, North Korea said that it had met its commitments and that Washington must completely abandon its "hostile policies" toward the regime if the denuclearization process was to succeed.
Still, the spokesman for the North Korean delegation, Ri Tong Il, said Pyongyang hoped the meeting would build momentum toward ending the declaration and verification stage and move toward a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
After the talks, Ri said Pak had told his fellow foreign ministers that North Korea was willing "to implement its own obligations," including verification, "closely following the implementation by other parties on the principle of action-for-action."
Rice said that the gathering had produced "no surprises" and that all six parties had reaffirmed their commitment to the goal of denuclearizing North Korea.
"I think this is quite significant," said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Copyright 2008
Powered By Zebra Mobile