North Korea appears committed to a nuclear disarmament deal but remains unwilling to complete two big steps until complaints over aid and US concessions are solved, US experts just back from North Korea said on Saturday.
Under disarmament terms announced in October last year, North Korea was offered 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid, and the United States agreed to move to take the North from a sanctions list aimed at sponsors of terrorism.
In return, North Korea agreed to disable its Yongbyon nuclear facility and fully declare all nuclear activities by the end of 2007.
But those two steps have stalled after North Korean complaints that the energy aid and US concessions were not coming soon enough.
North Korean officials appeared willing to proceed with disarmament steps, but only after their own demands were met, said Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University researcher who went to the North with two other US experts on a non-government trip.
We found that significant hurdles actually remain before the DPRK will offer a complete declaration of its nuclear programme, Hecker told reporters after arriving in Beijing. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK, is the North’s official name.
We were told (by North Korean officials) the DPRK is looking forward to having these obligations met as quickly as possible so they can move to the next stage, said Hecker.
North Korea’s complaints come during quickening regional diplomacy over the six-party nuclear talks to end Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons ambitions. But negotiations are caught in bind over who makes the next concessions, and the US experts comments suggest that that bind remains serious.
North Korea held its first nuclear test blast in October 2006, alarming Washington and also Asian neighbours. Under the pact between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, North Korea has committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs in return for economic and diplomatic concessions.
The chief US envoy to the nuclear talks, Chris Hill, will visit Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo next week, ahead of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who will attend the inauguration of South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-bak on Feb. 25 and then go on to China and Japan.
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