China, Japan, SKorea discuss North Korea nukes
BEIJING — Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea began talks Saturday in Beijing amid signs that pressure on North Korea to rejoin nuclear disarmament negotiations may be yielding results.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was due to brief his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on a recent meeting in Pyongyang where North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told Wen his country may end its boycott of the talks, depending on its negotiations with Washington.
The U.S. has not yet publicly responded to that apparent overture. But American officials have said talks with North Korea may be possible if they are part of the six-nation disarmament negotiations that Pyongyang spurned after it was condemned for conducting a rocket launch in April and nuclear test in May.
Japanese officials said late Friday that the U.S. had indicated it might meet with the North and that Pyongyang appears increasingly willing to return to the talks.
“It can be said that the resolution is working to convince the DPRK that it can’t go on like this. It must return to the six-party talks,” Kazuo Kodama, press secretary to Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, said Friday, using North Korea’s official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Key to drawing the North back into disarmament talks are U.N. sanctions imposed after the rocket launch and nuclear test.
Pyongyang earlier had insisted it would never return to the talks, which involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S. Kim’s offer of dialogue appears to reflect the North’s keenness for direct engagement with Washington — a perennial demand.
On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said they agreed the North should not be given aid until it begins to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
“We should not resume any economic assistance unless North Korea shows commitment and takes concrete steps” toward nuclear abandonment, Hatoyama told a joint news conference with Lee.
Hatoyama has backed a proposal by Lee to offer a one-time “grand bargain” of aid and concessions in exchange for denuclearization — rather than the step-by-step process pursued over the past six years.
But winning China’s overt support for such an approach may be difficult given Beijing’s longtime support for its impoverished ally.
But that role also gives Beijing relatively stronger influence with the North.
North Korea is pushing to send its deputy nuclear envoy Ri Gun to the United States later this month for a private security forum, a South Korean diplomat said. He asked not to be identified because the forum’s organizers have not announced details of the session.
The planned trip raises speculation that Ri could meet with U.S. officials to lay the groundwork for possible direct talks with Washington.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said Friday that non-governmental organizations have invited Ri to participate in meetings in the U.S., but he said no decision has been made yet “whether to approve that travel.”
Apart from their shared desire for a denuclearized Korean peninsula, China, Japan and South Korea are key trading partners.
Relations between Tokyo and its neighbors have been strained, however, by comments and acts by Hatoyama’s conservative predecessors that were seen as glorifying Japan’s wartime past.
Hatoyama, visiting Beijing for the first time since taking office last month, has emphasized his desire to assuage sensitivities over Tokyo’s history of invasion and occupation in the region before and during World War II, vowing he has the “courage to face up to history.”
The message appears well received: Relations have gotten a “good start” under Hatoyama, Dai Bingguo, a state councilor in charge of foreign affairs, told Japan’s foreign minister Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Hatoyama also has floated the idea of deepening ties by creating an East Asian community that would enhance economic and trade cooperation among nations in the region, although he has been vague about how the bloc would work.
Tokyo envisions such a community including China, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand as well as the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
But Japanese officials say the plan is a long-term one that will not be realized for years to come.
Related News
SKorea says UN sanctions on NKorea will remain in placeOctober 8th, 2009 SKorea: Sanctions on NKorea should remain in placeSEOUL, South Korea — U.N. sanctions on North Korea must remain in place even if the communist nation comes back to international nuclear disarmament talks, South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday.
South Korea, Japanese leaders: No aid to North Korea before denuclearizationOctober 8th, 2009 SKorea, Japan say no aid until NKorea disarms
SEOUL, South Korea — The leaders of South Korea and Japan stood united Friday in saying North Korea should not be offered aid until the communist regime takes concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The summit came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said his country may rejoin international nuclear talks, depending on its negotiations with the U.S.
SKorea president says world must stand firm on NKorea, despite North's softening toneSeptember 25th, 2009 SKorea leader pushes tough stand on NKoreaPITTSBURGH — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Friday the world must take a strong stand against North Korea's nuclear ambitions, despite recent conciliatory gestures from Pyongyang. After months of threatening nuclear war and conducting nuclear and missile tests, North Korea has recently eased its angry rhetoric and appeared more willing to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
New Japanese leader sys NKorean nuclear weapons, missiles threaten entire worldSeptember 24th, 2009 Japan says NKorean nukes threaten worldUNITED NATIONS — Newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama warned the world community that North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threaten not only North Asia but the whole international community, and "cannot be condoned under any circumstances."
Hatoyama told the U.N. General Assembly that it is imperative that North Korea obey Security Council resolutions and that the international community enforce them.
SKorea president says non-nuclear NKorea prerequisite to unified KoreaSeptember 23rd, 2009 SKorea leader urges North to return to nuke talksUNITED NATIONS — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday that North Korea must scrap its atomic weapons programs before the divided Korean Peninsula can be unified with the signing of a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. Lee told world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly that North Korea, which conducted its second nuclear test in May, should return to stalled international nuclear disarmament talks "right away and without any preconditions."
Lee, whose tough policies on the North have stoked fury in Pyongyang, spoke as his country, the United States, China, Japan and Russia worked to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
SKorea warns that in seeking US talks, NKorea wants recognition as nuclear stateSeptember 17th, 2009 SKorea: NKorea seeks recognition as nuclear stateSEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is insisting on direct talks with the United States in an attempt to obtain recognition as a nuclear state, Seoul's top diplomat said Friday, warning that the North's atomic bombs are intended to target South Korea. The remark — implying that the communist nation has no intention of giving up atomic weapons — is the latest in a series of warnings that a wary South Korea has issued ahead of possible one-on-one negotiations between the U.S.
SKorea's president accuses NKorea of having no intention of giving up nuclear weaponsSeptember 15th, 2009 SKorea says NKorea unwilling to give up nukesSEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's president said North Korea is making conciliatory gestures because it feels the pain of U.N. sanctions, while the top U.S.
SKorea not opposed to dialogue between US and NKorea on resuming disarmament talksSeptember 12th, 2009 SKorea not opposed to US-NKorea direct talksSEOUL, South Korea — South Korea would not oppose the United States holding direct talks with North Korea to persuade the communist regime to rejoin stalled international nuclear disarmament negotiations, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J.
US, South Korean nuclear envoys discuss ways to bring North Korea back to disarmament talksSeptember 4th, 2009 US, SKorea envoys discuss NKorean nuclear claimSEOUL, South Korea — Top nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States held talks Saturday on a strategy to bring North Korea back to disarmament talks, a day after the North claimed it is in the final stages of enriching uranium. U.S. special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, and South Korean envoy Wi Sung-lac made no comments after their meeting.
SKorea deciding how to inspect suspicious NKorean ships, while US envoy presses talksJuly 20th, 2009 SKorea deciding how to inspect suspicious NK shipsSEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's coast guard said Monday it is drawing up guidelines on how to inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying banned items — a move expected to enrage Pyongyang, which has warned it would consider such inspections a declaration of war. The move came as a senior U.S.
Chinese nuclear envoy to hold talks with South Korean officials on NKorea's nuclear programJuly 12th, 2009 Chinese envoy to hold talks with SKorean officialsSEOUL, South Korea — China's top nuclear envoy has arrived in South Korea as part of diplomatic efforts to revive the stalled talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei arrived in Seoul on Sunday after visiting Russia, the U.S.
Obama says NKorean nuclear disarmament talks still an option even as US pursues sanctionsJuly 2nd, 2009 Obama keeps door open for NKorean nuclear talksWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the United States is trying to "keep a door open" for North Korea to return to international nuclear disarmament talks, even as Washington pursues sanctions against the North. Obama told The Associated Press on Thursday that there could be more sanctions in store for the North for its May nuclear test.
Japan seeks China's support for UN resolution on North KoreaJune 8th, 2009 TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso asked visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for Beijing's support to adopt a UN Security Council resolution against North Korea's nuclear test last month, media reports said Monday. Aso was quoted as telling Wang that Japan expected China to play a role in denuclearising Pyongyang, government officials said.
Disarmament body takes a step toward negotiations on new nuclear arms treatyMay 29th, 2009 Disarmament body steps toward nuclear talksGENEVA — The 65-nation Conference on Disarmament has taken a step toward negotiating a new nuclear arms control treaty after a dozen years of deadlock. Diplomats in Geneva welcomed the adoption of a "program of work" as a breakthrough for the conference.
Financial markets in China, SKorea, Singapore, India, Thailand closed Friday for holidaysMay 1st, 2009 Markets in China, SKorea, Singapore, India closedBANGKOK, Thailand — Most Asian financial markets were closed Friday for May Day and other holidays. Markets were closed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, India and the Philippines.
Loading ...