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Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program have appeared set to end in deadlock, with the chief US envoy accusing the reclusive nation of stubbornly sticking to impossible demands.
Officials and delegates involved in the talks said they had broken down over North Korea's insistence that US financial sanctions against it be lifted before substantive discussions begin on Pyongyang giving up its nuclear arms.
But the United States refused to buckle, maintaining that the sanctions, which were imposed for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting, were a law enforcement issue and not related to North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated in Washington Thursday that the sanctions — which led to the freezing of North Korean funds in a Macau bank — were “clearly in another lane” to the six-party talks.
“We cannot be diverted from what we need to do in the six-party talks, which is to have the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” Rice said. The talks involve China, North and South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia.
The chief US envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, said in Beijing on Friday that the onus was on North Korea to make some constructive proposals after the United States had put forward its positions earlier in the week.
“I think what they need to do is get serious about the issues that have made them such problems,” Hill told reporters.
When asked about the difficulty of dealing with the North Korean delegation this week, the normally ultra-polished diplomat allowed some frustration to seep into his remarks.
“When the DPRK (North Korea) raises problems, one day it's financial issues, another day it's something they want that they know they can not have, and another day it's something that is said about them that hurts their feelings,” he said.
“It's one thing after the other.”
Hill said he was scheduled to fly home on Saturday, and with the talks officially due to end on Friday, it appeared certain that this week's forum would achieve very little.
Japan's chief envoy, Kenichiro Sasae, said late Thursday that “no progress” had been achieved due to North Korea's recalcitrance.
“Basically, North Korea has maintained its hard position… we are not seeing any signs of flexibility,” Sasae told reporters.
Sasae called North Korea's refusal to budge on its demands “extremely regrettable and unfortunate.”
North Korea came to the negotiating table this week emboldened by its first-ever atomic test on October 9.
Aside from the US financial sanctions issue, it listed a wide range of demands that had to be met before it would consider disarming.
These included the lifting of separate United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea after its atomic test, as well as aid to build a nuclear reactor for power and that the United States drop its “hostile” policy against it.
The United States had insisted that North Korea take initial steps to prove it was heading along the path towards disarming before receiving any concessions.
All of these negotiations, however, were thrown into the background as North Korea kept the focus on the US financial sanctions.
Nam Sung-Wook, a North Korea expert and professor at Korea University in Seoul, said Friday the talks had been bound to fail from the start.
“North Korea has been only interested in the lifting of sanctions while the US expected to discuss the nuclear issue,” Nam said.
“They have had different dreams on the same bed… it was a destined course. It was no surprise.”
