Gates: nuclear talks possible if North Korea stops 'dangerous provocations'
| Seoul
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates today hinted that Washington might be willing to renew nuclear talks with North Korea without preconditions.
On Friday, before meeting here with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Secretary Gates said talks with North Korea were possible if the North ceased 鈥渄angerous provocations鈥� and took 鈥渃oncrete steps鈥� to meet its obligations.
"We could see a return to the six-party talks鈥� whenever North Korea gave reason to believe that negotiations could be 鈥減roductive and conducted in good faith," he said. Six-party talks were last held in Beijing in December 2008.
While Gates's comments may have appeared strong, they did not include a clear call for North Korea to give up its nuclear program as a prelude to renewing six-party talks, which North Korea has called for 鈥渨ith no preconditions.鈥�
However, South Korea has rejected the notion of returning to talks without preconditions. On Friday, Mr. Lee called for US "cooperation" on the North Korean nuclear issue.
Gates's aims in Asia
Gates鈥檚 remarks came after fence-mending stops in China and Japan. In three days in China, he sought to reopen communications with military leaders upset by US arms sales to Taiwan. In Japan, he defended the need for the US to keep 49,000 troops in the country for defense against both North Korea and China, which he warned might 鈥渂ehave more assertively toward its neighbors鈥� if US troops were withdrawn.
In South Korea, where the US has 28,500 troops, Gates encountered deeper sensitivities about North Korea after two recent attacks 鈥� the sinking of the South Korean navy vessel that killed 46 people and an artillery barrage on a South Korean island in November that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.
During today's meeting with Lee and Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, Gates made a point of satisfying South Korean leaders by saying that diplomatic engagement should begin with talks between North and South Korea. Defense Minister Kim, for his part, said 鈥渟trong force is the only way to deal effectively鈥� with North.
Former US envoy: 'We need more than talks'
While Gates held his meetings, elsewhere in Seoul former US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill was speaking at a private think tank about past efforts to denuclearize North Korea. Hill, who negotiated with North Korea during the presidency of George W. Bush, insisted that getting the North to do away with its nuclear program remains the top priority.
鈥淲e cannot walk away from that,鈥� he said at the forum here. 鈥淲e really do not have the option of leaving North Korea to have its nuclear weapons.鈥�
Hill defended the record of the six-party talks in getting North Korea to shut down the five-megawatt reactor needed for producing plutonium for warheads but said the North Koreans 鈥渓ied on their declaration about uranium enrichment.鈥�
鈥淲e need more than talks,鈥� said Hill. 鈥淭he North Koreans have demonstrated they did not deal with the process seriously.鈥�
What will bring South Koreans to the table?
The purpose of talks 鈥� which include Russia and Japan as well as the two Koreas, China, and the US 鈥� has always been to end the North Korea鈥檚 nuclear program, but the sense among many Koreans is that North Korea has no intention of abandoning nuclear weapons. The construction of a new reactor to produce highly enriched uranium for warheads at the North鈥檚 main nuclear complex at Yongbyon has convinced South Korean officials that returning to talks will not resolve the issue.
South Koreans cite two conditions under which talks might resume. 鈥淣orth Korea needs to settle the issue of provocations,鈥� says Hahm Chai-bong, director of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, 鈥渁nd North Korea should go back to previous freezing鈥� of its nuclear program.
Korean officials say, however, that North Korea is increasingly unlikely to give up its nuclear program in the run-up to the April 2012 centennial of the birth of Kim Il-sung, who died in July 1994. Kim鈥檚 son and heir, Kim Jong-il, is believed to be anxious to display the country鈥檚 strength while grooming his own son, Kim Jong-un.
