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No compromising on checking N Korea's nuke report
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| The Editor |
Fri, Jul 11, 2008
The Yomiuri Shimbun, ANN
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A strong verification system needs to be agreed to realise the abandonment of North Korea's nuclear programs.
Negotiators to the six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearisation met Thursday (July 10) in Beijing to start their talks. In response to North Korea's recent declaration of its nuclear programmes, the six-nation meeting aims to agree on substantive ways to verify the report.
Most importantly, the report submitted by North Korea at the end of last month was incomplete because it failed to include information such as the number of nuclear weapons the country has and where they are stored.
North Korea is believed to have reported that the quantity of extracted plutonium capable of being used for making nuclear bombs was about 30kg. To grasp the entire picture of North Korea's nuclear development programme, it is necessary to strictly verify the report. If verification procedures are not sufficiently carried out, it will leave loopholes allowing North Korea to possess nuclear materials.
Full inspection access needed
The five other members of the six-party talks are demanding entry into North Korea's nuclear facilities and the right to question the engineers there and receive written answers to questions.
North Korea has insisted its declaration is "complete and accurate". In this respect, it is a matter of course that the country should accept such requests.
But it is most important for the five countries to take the initiative in selecting facilities to be inspected and the makeup of inspectors to be dispatched.
Apart from three nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, which North Korea agreed to disable, inspectors should examine all suspicious facilities, including all locations used for nuclear waste processing and storage.
It is important to have International Atomic Energy Agency officials as a part of inspections to determine quantities of plutonium. IAEA inspectors used to be stationed at Yongbyon, and the organisation therefore is familiar with situation in the country.
However, there is a possibility that North Korea could be reluctant to accept such demands and attempt to prolong negotiations.
For its part, the United States is believed to want to start verification procedures by Aug 11, when North Korea's removal from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism goes into effect. The United States apparently wishes to hold foreign minister-level talks among the six countries at an early date to pave the way for the last stage of negotiations on North Korea's denuclearisation process to give the administration of US President George W Bush an achievement to point to.
But easy compromises should not be made.
Abduction issue still on table
Washington should be resolute in its negotiations with Pyongyang, warning that the United States could reverse its decision to remove North Korea from the terrorism blacklist.
North Korea is asking for economic and energy aid in exchange for the disablement of its nuclear facilities and a declaration of its nuclear programmes. However, it will be difficult for Japan to be part of such assistance programs unless there is progress on the abduction issue. Though North Korea promised Japan it would reinvestigate the issue, it still fails to make any effort.
Leaders of the Group of Eight countries expressed their support to "the resolution of the outstanding issues of concern such as the abductions" in their statement adopted at the end of their summit meeting in Toyakocho, Hokkaido.
Bush also made it clear that the United States would not "abandon" the abduction issue.
The Japanese government needs to be persistent at the six-party talks, explaining its position of seeking a resolution to nuclear abandonment coupled with the abduction issue, so it can gain support from other countries concerned.
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