U.S. Cautious on Reported N.Korean Talks Proposal(N. Korea told Russia it accepts 6-way talks)

Yahoo! News ^ | 07/31/03

[TigerLikesRooster]

U.S. Cautious on Reported N.Korean Talks Proposal

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Updates with quotes details

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House reacted cautiously on Thursday to reports that North Korea (news - web sites) had proposed a new multilateral format to resolve the impasse over its nuclear program, saying "we'll see whether this moves us forward."

"We hope that North Korea is willing to agree to multilateral talks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We've been in close contact with our friends and allies and we'll see where this take us, we'll see whether this moves us forward."

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that North Korea's ambassador to Moscow had told it Pyongyang, until now determined to hold talks with Washington alone, now favored six-sided talks, including Russia, to resolve the nuclear row.

The ministry said envoy Pak Ui-chun made the new offer in a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov on Thursday. It did not list the countries but they appeared to be North and South Korea (news - web sites), China, Japan, the United States and Russia.

There was an initial, inconclusive round of three-way talks in Beijing in April at which the North told the United States it had nuclear weapons and was seeking to make more.

Bush expressed optimism during a news conference on Wednesday that "we're actually beginning to make serious progress" on convincing Asian countries to share responsibility for dealing with Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions "in such a way that I believe will lead to an attitudinal change by Kim Jong-il."

"We remain in close contact with the Chinese, the South Koreans, the Japanese, the Russians, McClellan said. "It is important to move forward ... our approach is that we want to see multilateral talks."

[TigerLikesRooster]

This is bizzare. N. Korea did not talk to America directly. Instead, it talked to Russia which broke the news. It seems that N. Korea decided to hide behind Russia, now that China increasingly looks pissed off. Putin must be smiling.

[Vesuvian]

You can say that again, my head is spinning.

I wonder if we can get in on those talks ; )

[SouthParkRepublican]

I'm in favor of 2 way talks. NK Can talk to the hand...

[kabar]

This should answer the Dem critics who wanted the US to enter into bilateral talks with North Korea. Also, Kim Jong Il has caved in his demand to have one on one talks with the US. This is exactly what Bush wanted. It is far from "bizarre."

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #4

I was commenting on the way N. Korea accepted.

[Dog Gone]

This is excellent news. Bush strategery wins again.

[OPS4]

N. Korea is a satellite of Bejing run by the Chinese Communists, So if China feels the pressure be assured
N. Korea will fall in line.

Ops4 God Bless America!

[AmericanInTokyo]

I dunno. I suspect the f****** have something up their sleeve, as usual. I'm skeptical.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #9

Of course, they do, possibly with the help of Putin. This could end up as the U.N. Security Council did with Iraq. By no means, it is over. It is just starting.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Why not ten-way talks ? Add in Australia, the Kiwis, Marshall Islands and Bulgaria.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Watch 'em escalate everyones hopes out in the open like this, as seen in this story and this thread, and then pull another diplomatic fast one.

They'll say, 'but before we really start the six-way demarche, we really do need the assurance from the United States of non-agression codified by document"

We'll balk as we should, and then they will say, "the intransigent US side is responsible for collapsing the multi-party talks just as eveyone was getting ready to go to the meeting"

They will also work FEVERISHLY from today to start driving wedges between the 5 parties to the 6 party talks. Japan already is piling on that they want the agenda to be stacked will all kinds of issues, not only nuke, but also the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by the DPRK, etc. etc. Folks we are not yet out of the woods, but it is entirely positive, hopeful American culture to be optimistic.

[AmericanInTokyo]

"Pyongyang, July 31 (KCNA-Yonhap) -- North Korea's chief envoy to Cabinet-level inter-Korean talks pressed the South Thursday to call off next month's joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise, called Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL). The North's envoy, Kim Ryong-song, sent his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Se-hyun, a telephone message expressing Pyongyang's opposition to the annual exercise and urged the South Korean government to cancel it."

Be prepared for them to now come up with a series of "BUT, before we all sit down, we want this and this and this." This is the DPRK negotiating tactic and they will try to put us in a corner. One such 'request' will be that we suspend such things as these military exercises. Bet bottom dollar they will now ramp up the conditions.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The thought seriously floating around in the senior levels of the Russian military is that NORTH KOREAN NUKE MISSILE CAPABILITIES are unacceptable.

The Russian military study has been completed that recently concluded if North Korea launches nuclear strike within the Asian region, there is a 70% chance that Vladivostok and other regions will be seriously affected by nuclear radiation. The senior Russian military now says this is unacceptable and they have FLOATED A PLAN TO CONDUCT A PRE-EMPTIVE MILITARY STRIKE UPON DPRK NUCLEAR FACILITIES IF THE THREAT IS JUDGED TO BE REAL.

[risk]

ping!

[Steel Wolf]

Hiding behind Russia won't prove much of a shield. This is a setback for Kim, displaying his inability to hold the line against our demands. He will certainly try and rebound quickly to retake the lost ground, perhaps in a different area. As long as we don't give an inch, we can stop his little game of retreat 'two steps, advance three'.

Russia and China may be relatively big players compared to North Korea, but they won't be able to provide much. North Korea is just too far out in left field for them to risk their necks over.

Kim is stalling for time. He would have preferred to let 2 way talks fail first, then let multi-party talks fail. This will cut months off of whatever deadline we intent to impose. We could be seeing a blockade or serious constrictive action against the DPRK within a few months.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #14

I did not know that Russian military has such a drastic plan.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #16

You know, this could be where the human right angle could come handy. Even in the midst of this 6-way negotiations, America and China can still create refugee camps in China and take in N. Koreans. Since they are only helping hungry N. Koreans, N. Korea cannot accuse them of destabilization and hold it off.

Therefore, America could keep up the pressure by building the camps one building at a time.

[AmericanInTokyo]

What's more, it is rumored that the Russian plan to attack Yangbyon and elsewhere, is on the planning board as a JOINT US-Russian military action. I'll try to get the name of the Russian general who has been discussing this recently. It could also be psy ops to get the Northies to the table, too. Who knows?

[OahuBreeze]

Re #12. Exactly, while it's a positive step, and shows tangible progress from the Bush administration's polices, this thing's just getting started.... Think about where NK is at; at the least, they were about a week or two away from having all their drug and smuggling ships interdicted, and heavy surveillance and possible interdiction on any weapons' shipments. They needed to do something -- so if you can't manipulate the US, manipulate world opinion with the "altruistic" gesture. Here's the most likely scenario: three of four weeks from now we have multi party talks. NK comes in the meeting, rails at the US, protests continuing "nuclear war exercise" in SK and says it's not in line with the current crisis on the peninsula and their "altruistic gestures" for compromise and diplomacy. They walk out in a huff! For three weeks, the situation starts scaling up again, while NK tells the press they compromised on everything for peace and negotiations but the other side did nothing. Finally, as people start talking about interdiction, sanctions, and Security Council again, we hear whispers about back door deals for "three party" talks again, brokered by either Russia or China -- these negotiations last for three weeks, and then "joyfully, as the world's great hope!" three-way talks are scheduled again in one month..... Well, guess what??? By this time Kim just bought another three months to keep working on reprocessing and weaponizing -- this can go on for at least a year or two, manipulating world opinion by apparently munificient gestures which have no real significance. I hope for the best, but have seen this scenario many times since 1950. I hope the trampled-upon North Korean people manage to take care of this problem themselves, with or without outside help, as I'm tired of hearing about idiot Kim and the new problem he has caused.