North Korea may freeze its nuke program
Pyongyang may change stance if US lifts sanctions, resumes aid, and removes the country from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.
Pyongyang has reportedly
offered to freeze its nuclear program if the US removes North Korea from a list of nations sponsoring terrorism, lifts political, economic, and military sanctions, and resumes energy aid. This announcement was made as European diplomats left for the country, presumably to persuade North Korea that it is in its best interests to come back to multi-party negotiations.
European Union officials
headed to North Korea Tuesday after being briefed by Chinese officials. These officials are expected to convey to Pyongyang the latest US-backed joint draft statement, agreed upon by the US, South Korea, and Japan.
The New York Times calls the
draft statement "a broadly worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling for a 'coordinated' set of steps in which five nations would offer the North a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its nuclear facilities."
The joint position, which is not being formally released, might be judged by Kim Jong Il as too vague "in part because it sets no timetable for energy or economic aid to the country," according to the
Times. But
The Press Association a British news agency, takes an optimistic view of the new proposal: "Diplomats could be
on the verge of a breakthrough in negotiating an end to North Korea's nuclear program."
The
US hopes China can help convince the North Koreans to rejoin the six-party negotiations, reports
Reuters. The draft statement is expected to come up in discussions between the US and Chinese delegations while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is in the US this week.
The Japan Times reports that, if Japan extends financial assistance to North Korea, it
may help Kim Jong Il's regime survive, according to a US congressional report made available Friday. Under an accord reached in September 2002, Japan may give North Korea between $5 billion and $10 billion in assistance, says the report. "The massive size of Japanese aid relative to the North Korean economy ... raises fears that it will help to sustain the Kim Jong Il regime without inducing any behavioral changes," the report said.
But how just how serious a threat does North Korea pose?
The Los Angeles Times reports that US claims about the country's nuclear abilities
may be based on dubious evidence. As the
Times points out, the Bush administration has asserted in recent months that North Korea possesses one or two nuclear bombs and is rapidly developing the means to create more. The
Times cites current and former US and foreign officials as saying that the basis for the administration's assessment "rests on meager fresh evidence and limited, sometimes dated, intelligence."
[The Bush administration's] language is reminiscent of administration rhetoric before the Iraq war, as is the worry in some quarters that the US is exaggerating the danger to galvanize world opinion against another regime in what President Bush termed an "axis of evil."
... The administration's claims about Iraqi unconventional weapons, which have yet to be verified by evidence on the ground, were based on intelligence that seems robust compared to what is available about North Korea.
Some officials and experts worry that, by trumpeting these claims the administration might further damage the credibility of US intelligence, according to the
Times.
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