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US and North Korea envoys reopen talks
Pyongyang stands to gain food aid, financial help and concessions if it stops pursuing nuclear programmes
- AP
- Published: 00:00 February 24, 2012
Beijing: Amid cautious optimism, US and North Korean envoys met on Thursday for their first talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programmes since the death of the country's longtime leader Kim Jong-il.
The discussions will be closely watched for signs of a more cooperative approach from North Korea, which stands to gain food aid, economic help, and diplomatic concessions in return for taking steps to end its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
The countries were on the verge of a deal to have Washington provide food if Pyongyang suspends its uranium enrichment programme when the agreement was upended by Kim's December 17 death.
"Today is, as we say, ‘game day.' We will have an opportunity to meet with First Vice Foreign Minister Kim and his team," US envoy Glyn Davies said before the start of morning talks with Kim Kye-gwan at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.
The two were slated to hold a second session yesterday afternoon at the US Embassy.
Restarting negotiations
The talks in Beijing, the third round since July, are ostensibly aimed at restarting wider six-nation disarmament negotiations that also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Pyongyang walked away from those talks in 2009 and later exploded its second nuclear device.
Additional steps may still be needed before a resumption of the six-nation talks. The North may first request food shipments, while the US and its allies want assurances Pyongyang is committed to making progress on past nuclear commitments.
The United States has also said that better ties between North Korea and US ally South Korea are crucial. North Korea has rejected South Korean offers to talk in recent weeks.
Davies said a key point was to see if North Korea was willing to fulfil obligations made in a joint statement in September 2005, which committed Pyongyang to abandoning its nuclear programme in exchange for aid and pledges that Washington wouldn't seek the regime's ouster.
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