The United States has reportedly agreed to delay a key component of the program to verify the scope of North Korea's nuclear operations, Kyodo News reported today (see GSN, Nov. 18).
(Nov. 19) -
Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz has said North Korea would continue creating obstacles in denuclearization talks (Mario Tama/Getty Images).
On oral agreement between Washington and Pyongyang calls for collection of nuclear samples during the third and final phase of North Korean denuclearization, a diplomatic source told the South Korean Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper.
"Sample-taking will not take place in the current second phase," which involves disablement of facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, the official said.
North Korean and U.S. officials last month reached an agreement on a verification protocol that Washington said would include inspections of nuclear facilities and sample collection. The plan awaits approval from the nations participating in the six-party talks -- China, Japan, Russia, the United States and both Koreas.
This month, Pyongyang said that it did not accept sample-taking as a component of the verification plan. U.S. officials disputed that claim.
The two nations accept that verification will take an extended period of time and that collection of samples must be pushed back to the third phase, which involves actual dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear sector.
North Korea continues to oppose a written verification plan or discussion of sampling during this phase of denuclearization, the newspaper reported (Kyodo News/Breitbart, Nov. 19).
The matter will continue into the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who has said he would be open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Some observers believe that Obama would not wait long after taking office to send a representative to Pyongyang to pave the way for such a meeting, the Yonhap News Agency reported today.
"If America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like confronting terrorism and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs," according to the Web site for the Obama presidential transition team.
Former Secretary of State George Shultz told the Washington Times that the contretemps over nuclear sampling showed that diplomacy with Pyongyang would remain difficult.
"They are endless bargainers. There is no such thing as a firm agreement with them. You make an agreement, you make a compromise and then they immediately break it in some fashion," he said (Donald Lambro, Washington Times, Nov. 18).