BEIJING — The United States, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia will begin multilateral talks Tuesday night on North Korea's nuclear arms program as participants finalize plans to urge Pyongyang to give up its ambition to join the nuclear club.
Representatives from the six nations will attend a reception hosted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, head of China's delegation.
The U.S., Japan, China, South Korea and Russia agree that a nuclear-armed North Korea could upset the delicate balance of power in Asia. But they remain divided over just how much of a threat it would pose to the rest of the world.
Many South Koreans, who are in close range of the North's massive arsenal, have grown immune to the potential threat. Japanese fear a North Korean nuclear-armed missile strike. U.S. officials are concerned that Pyongyang will sell weapons or nuclear materials to terrorist organizations.
China and Russia want a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula but also fret about U.S. influence in the region, or even an attack on North Korea.
The conflicting views could complicate Washington's agenda of pressing North Korea to give up its suspected nuclear weapons programs, dispose of its arsenal and grant access to international inspectors during this week's meetings in Beijing.
Experts say North Korea has only one interest in possessing a nuclear arsenal: to deter a U.S. invasion. After witnessing the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il hopes even more fervently that being a nuclear power might save his regime — and recognizes that selling such weapons to terrorists would spell its end, they say.
"Transferring nuclear weapons or to a lesser degree biological or chemical weapons to a terrorist group ... would only give the U.S. an excuse to attack," said Timothy Savage, a security analyst and visiting fellow at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far East Studies in Seoul. "I think the possibility of that is extremely low."
Washington has said it wants to solve the problem through diplomacy but has insisted that North Korea must first give up its nuclear program. South Korea, eager to reconcile with North Korea, favors a more flexible approach that would involve simultaneous concessions by both sides. Tokyo wants to confront North Korea over Japanese nationals abducted by the North's spies decades ago.
China and Russia have frowned on the U.S. portrayal of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." They may side with the North in trying to soften U.S. demands and securing promises before Pyongyang scraps its nuclear programs, experts say.
North Korea is believed to possess one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months.
The United States says North Korea is also major distributor of missile technology to clients like Yemen and Iran, and has accused the communist regime of importing materials to produce chemical or biological weapons, which Washington fears might be sold to terrorist groups.
Pyongyang earns badly needed hard currency from weapons sales and illicit drug deals.
However, last week's truck bombing attack on the U.N. headquarters in Iraq and a string of devastating bombings and terrorist plots from Jakarta to New York in the past two years shows that the threat is more likely to come from radical Islamic groups, such as al-Qaida, experts say.
North Korea hasn't been implicated in terrorist activities since 1987, when a South Korean airliner crashed near Myanmar, killing all 115 people on board. A North Korean agent, who was arrested after getting off the flight, later testified that she and another agent put two time bombs on the plane on orders by Pyongyang's then-heir apparent, Kim Jong Il.
The incident landed North Korea on the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism, along with Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria.
U.S. officials say the isolated regime continues to harbor Japanese ultra-leftists accused of hijacking a Japanese airliner in the 1970s.
Despite the lack of evidence of any North Korean terrorist acts or links in recent years, some U.S. officials believe it's only a matter of time.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese authorities temporarily detained a North Korean freighter carrying 156 barrels of materials the United States said could be used to make chemical weapons. After unloading the chemicals, the ship continued on to North Korea. The ship's owner said the chemicals were for fertilizer.
Unwilling to rely entirely on dialogue, the United States and some allies — Australia, Japan and eight European nations — plan exercises in the Coral Sea near Australia with North Korea in mind. They will practice interdicting and boarding vessels, part of a policy to stem the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles technology. (Compiled from wire reports)
Article republished courtesy of Japan Today: http://www.japantoday.com
Please also see:
Setting the North Korea agenda,by Aidan Foster-Carter:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EH27Dg05.html
US North Korea negotiator leaves State Department:
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030825183023.3nsh6c41.html
PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda agents:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=35565
Representatives from the six nations will attend a reception hosted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi, head of China's delegation.
The U.S., Japan, China, South Korea and Russia agree that a nuclear-armed North Korea could upset the delicate balance of power in Asia. But they remain divided over just how much of a threat it would pose to the rest of the world.
Many South Koreans, who are in close range of the North's massive arsenal, have grown immune to the potential threat. Japanese fear a North Korean nuclear-armed missile strike. U.S. officials are concerned that Pyongyang will sell weapons or nuclear materials to terrorist organizations.
China and Russia want a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula but also fret about U.S. influence in the region, or even an attack on North Korea.
The conflicting views could complicate Washington's agenda of pressing North Korea to give up its suspected nuclear weapons programs, dispose of its arsenal and grant access to international inspectors during this week's meetings in Beijing.
Experts say North Korea has only one interest in possessing a nuclear arsenal: to deter a U.S. invasion. After witnessing the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il hopes even more fervently that being a nuclear power might save his regime — and recognizes that selling such weapons to terrorists would spell its end, they say.
"Transferring nuclear weapons or to a lesser degree biological or chemical weapons to a terrorist group ... would only give the U.S. an excuse to attack," said Timothy Savage, a security analyst and visiting fellow at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far East Studies in Seoul. "I think the possibility of that is extremely low."
Washington has said it wants to solve the problem through diplomacy but has insisted that North Korea must first give up its nuclear program. South Korea, eager to reconcile with North Korea, favors a more flexible approach that would involve simultaneous concessions by both sides. Tokyo wants to confront North Korea over Japanese nationals abducted by the North's spies decades ago.
China and Russia have frowned on the U.S. portrayal of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." They may side with the North in trying to soften U.S. demands and securing promises before Pyongyang scraps its nuclear programs, experts say.
North Korea is believed to possess one or two nuclear weapons, and experts believe it could produce five to six more in a few months.
The United States says North Korea is also major distributor of missile technology to clients like Yemen and Iran, and has accused the communist regime of importing materials to produce chemical or biological weapons, which Washington fears might be sold to terrorist groups.
Pyongyang earns badly needed hard currency from weapons sales and illicit drug deals.
However, last week's truck bombing attack on the U.N. headquarters in Iraq and a string of devastating bombings and terrorist plots from Jakarta to New York in the past two years shows that the threat is more likely to come from radical Islamic groups, such as al-Qaida, experts say.
North Korea hasn't been implicated in terrorist activities since 1987, when a South Korean airliner crashed near Myanmar, killing all 115 people on board. A North Korean agent, who was arrested after getting off the flight, later testified that she and another agent put two time bombs on the plane on orders by Pyongyang's then-heir apparent, Kim Jong Il.
The incident landed North Korea on the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism, along with Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria.
U.S. officials say the isolated regime continues to harbor Japanese ultra-leftists accused of hijacking a Japanese airliner in the 1970s.
Despite the lack of evidence of any North Korean terrorist acts or links in recent years, some U.S. officials believe it's only a matter of time.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese authorities temporarily detained a North Korean freighter carrying 156 barrels of materials the United States said could be used to make chemical weapons. After unloading the chemicals, the ship continued on to North Korea. The ship's owner said the chemicals were for fertilizer.
Unwilling to rely entirely on dialogue, the United States and some allies — Australia, Japan and eight European nations — plan exercises in the Coral Sea near Australia with North Korea in mind. They will practice interdicting and boarding vessels, part of a policy to stem the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles technology. (Compiled from wire reports)
Article republished courtesy of Japan Today: http://www.japantoday.com
Please also see:
Setting the North Korea agenda,by Aidan Foster-Carter:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EH27Dg05.html
US North Korea negotiator leaves State Department:
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030825183023.3nsh6c41.html
PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda agents:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=35565