<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/09/politics/09korea.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times April 9, 2005 North Korea Said to Reject China's Bid on Nuclear Talks By JOEL BRINKLEY ASHINGTON, April 8 - After two senior-level meetings between North Korean and Chinese leaders over the last two weeks to discuss the North's nuclear-weapons program, the Chinese have failed so far to persuade North Korea to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks, senior administration officials and diplomats said Friday. As a result of the continuing deadlock, informal discussions have begun among the five parties to the talks on new, more aggressive strategies that could be used if and when it is decided that the talks have reached a dead end. Among the steps being discussed, the administration officials and diplomats said, are increasing the frequency and intensity of United States and South Korean military exercises in the region. Even now, North Korea grows incensed with each exercise. In addition, intelligence gathering operations and reconnaissance about the North would be increased in a manner that the North Korean government would be sure to notice, the officials said. And enforcement activities against North Koreans involved in drug trafficking and weapons smuggling, among other illegal activities, would be expanded, possibly including increased patrols that might lead to interceptions of North Korean ships. Two years ago, Australian authorities seized a North Korean ship carrying 110 pounds of heroin off Australia's southern coast. No decision has been reached to step up the use of these tactics. For the past year and a half, under a program called the Proliferation Security Initiative, the five nations have declared themselves ready to intercept ships that may be carrying illicit cargo, but there has not been an actual interdiction recently. Senior diplomats said the parties had agreed informally that they would continue holding out for North Korea's return to the talks until June, when a year will have passed since North Korea walked away. American officials say they have set no deadlines for the North Koreans to return. But now, "there is a palpable sense of frustration," a senior administration official said. China told the United States this week that North Korea had agreed in principle to return to the talks, " 'when the conditions are right' - the same they have been saying for months," the official said on Friday. "Nothing has changed, as far as I am concerned," he added. Also on Friday, Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said, "We still do not have a clear commitment from the North Koreans to come back to the talks, or a date that they would come back to the talks." All of the officials and diplomats said that at least for a few more weeks, they will continue pushing North Korea to return to the talks. During her visit to Beijing on March 21, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed the Chinese to put pressure on North Korea. Since then, North Korea's prime minister, Pak Pong Ju, and the first vice foreign minister, Kang Sok Ju, have visited Beijing. Mr. Kang is in charge of the nuclear issue. Several officials and diplomats noted that, while Mr. Pak was in Beijing last month, the Chinese government also agreed to grant North Korea significant new loan guarantees, though the details were not known. Officials also pointed out that Chinese trade with North Korea has increased significantly over the last year. One Asian diplomat put the rate of increase at 40 percent. Reports from the region suggest that China is still holding out a significant carrot for the North Koreans should they change their minds and return to the disarmament talks - a state visit by President Hu Jintao. It would be the first visit to Pyongyang by a Chinese leader since September 2000. However, Japan's Kyodo news agency, quoting diplomats in Beijing, reported that because Mr. Kang "took a tough attitude" during his meetings in Beijing, China was saying "it has become difficult" to schedule President Hu's visit. On Tuesday, the head of North Korea's Parliament, Choe Thae Bok, said there was "no justification" for a return to the talks. The North Korean government has called for a session of its rubber-stamp Parliament for next Monday. No one knows for certain what the Parliament will be asked to do, but given Mr. Choe's remark, some diplomats are speculating that it will be asked to ratify North Korea's decision not to return to the talks. In the days since Mr. Pak's visit to Beijing, North Korea has issued several bellicose statements that have discouraged the five nations involved in the negotiations with the North - South Korea, Japan, China, Russia an the United States. Agence France-Presse reported that in a speech on Friday, Kim Yon Chun, the North Korean Army chief of staff, said that Washington's "persistent hostile policy" would prompt the North to further "bolster its self-defensive nuclear deterrent." North Korea regularly issues statements with conditions, demands or objections on a range of topics, and the senior State Department official said American policy now is to try not to respond to any of them. On March 31, however, North Korea issued a new statement that caught everyone's attention. "Now that the D.P.R.K. has become a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, the six-party talks should be disarmament talks where the participant countries negotiate the issue on an equal footing," the Foreign Ministry said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name. With that, the officials and diplomats said, North Korea seemed to be saying it should be regarded as a legitimate nuclear power on a par with the United States, Russia or China. "From that, it would be very difficult to go back to the assumption that they unilaterally have to disarm," a diplomat from one of the five nations said. "This one could possibly change the whole basis of the negotiations." Several diplomats and officials said they learned that even China was unpleasantly surprised by the new statement. The senior State Department official said the United States found the statement "very unhelpful," but added "we're not quite sure what it really means." The official said he was quite upset when he first learned of the new position but added, "one of my rules is always to apply what I call the North Korean discount to these statements," meaning they may not always be as serious as they seem. U.S. Plans Talks With China By The New York Times WASHINGTON, April 8 - The Bush administration, seeking to ease recent tensions with China over its military actions, has agreed with the Beijing government to set up a series of regular high-level talks on human rights, political and military issues, the State Department said Friday. The plans for the talks were first reported in The Washington Post on Friday. The talks would be headed on the American side by Robert B. Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state. Mr. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said details of the talks, including the timing and format of the discussions, remained to be worked out but that the talks were suggested by China last year and worked out during Ms. Rice's visit last month. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. 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