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Friday, July 16, 2004

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  The talks, held in Beijing, concluded June 26. The countries involved in the process are the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and North Korea.

Kelly told the committee that the United States presented a step-by-step proposal at the talks that had been coordinated with South Korea and Japan. He emphasized that the Bush administration will accept "nothing less" than "the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement" of North Korea's nuclear programs and said this would be accomplished through multilateral diplomacy.

"Under the U.S. proposal," Kelly explained, "[North Korea] would, as a first step, commit to dismantle all of its nuclear programs. The parties would then reach agreement on a detailed implementation plan requiring, at a minimum, the supervised disabling, dismantlement and elimination of all nuclear-related facilities and materials; the removal of all nuclear weapons and weapons components, centrifuge and other nuclear parts, fissile material and fuel rods; and a long-term monitoring program."

After an initial preparatory period of about three months' duration, Kelly said, North Korea would be expected to: (1) provide a complete listing of all its nuclear activities and cease all their operations; (2) permit the securing of all fissile material and the monitoring of all fuel rods, and; (3) permit the publicly disclosed and observable disablement of all nuclear weapons/weapons components and key centrifuge parts.

All of these actions, he said, would be monitored subject to international verification.

North Korea would need to include its uranium enrichment program and existing weapons, as well as its plutonium program, under this dismantlement plan, Kelly stressed. He noted that North Korea continues to deny that it has a uranium enrichment program, and speaks of an existing "nuclear deterrent" without admitting to having nuclear weapons.

As North Korea began to carry out its commitments under the proposal, Kelly told the committee, non-U.S. parties would take provisional or temporary steps in response. "These would only yield lasting benefits to [North Korea] after the dismantlement of its nuclear programs had been completed," he said.

For example, Kelly explained, non-U.S. parties would provide heavy fuel oil to North Korea once it agreed to the overall approach. Upon acceptance of a declaration by North Korea, the parties would also provide "provisional multilateral security assurances."

"[I]t is reasonable to conclude that assurances given through the multilateral Six-Party process would have considerably more weight than would bilateral assurances," Kelly pointed out.

In addition, a study would be undertaken to determine North Korea's energy requirements and how to meet them by non-nuclear energy programs, the assistant secretary said. The parties would also begin discussions about lifting the remaining economic sanctions on the North Korea and removing the country from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, he added.

The Six-Party Talks, according to Kelly, "offer North Korea the opportunity to improve its relations with the United States and Japan, to end its self-induced political and economic isolation, and to harness the benefits of normal international trade and aid, including establishing relationships with the international financial institutions."

The next round of talks is slated for September.

Kelly stipulated that "to achieve full integration into the region and a wholly transformed relationship with the United States," North Korea would have to change its behavior on human rights, address the issues underlying its appearance on the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, eliminate its illegal weapons of mass destruction programs, put an end to the proliferation of missiles and missile-related technology, and adopt a less provocative conventional force disposition.

"By addressing the world's concerns about its nuclear programs and other issues," Kelly said, "[North Korea] would have both new resources and opportunities to pursue policies for peaceful growth in the region that is already perhaps the world's most vibrant, East Asia."

Kelly said he remains "optimistic on where the talks could lead," but added: "I personally could not say at this point that [North Korea] has indeed made the strategic calculation to give up its nuclear weapons in return for real peace and prosperity through trade, aid and economic development. My hope is that the serious and extensive discussions with the United States, [South Korea], Japan, China and Russia will convince [North Korea] that a truly denuclearized Korean peninsula is its only viable option."

(USINFO)

Editor's note: