Envoy: De-link Asset Freeze from Talks

Envoy: De-link Asset Freeze from Talks. December. 13, 2006 07:13. gun43@donga.com weappon@donga.com.

Chun Yeong-woo, the Korean chief negotiator to the six-party talks, stated on Tuesday that the freezing of the North Korean bank account at the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macau should not be linked to the talks.

Chun attended the first Korea-U.S. West Coast Security Forum held by the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, which took place at Shilla Hotel in Seoul, and said, “As the BDA account case shows us well, if we mention bilateral issues between North Korea and the U.S., we will not see much progress in the denuclearization of North Korea. Matters such as the BDA issue should not be mentioned during the six-party talks, and should be discussed in a working group or at least should be a separate part of the six-party talks.

This means that even if a working group is formed to discuss the BDA matter after the fifth second round of the six-party talks takes place in Beijing on December 18, the six-party talks will not be affected by it. It is known that the U.S. and Japan are in favor of this approach.

North Korea, however, is demanding the unfreezing of its accounts in the BDA matter before talks continue and will most likely be opposed to this mindset. The North’s attitude will make it hard to implement this approach.

The U.S. is supposedly planning to demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear ambitions and adhere to other initial conditions related to the six-party talks before creating separate working groups to discuss the normalization of the North Korea-U.S. relationship, energy support for the North, and the signing of a peace treaty, along with a working group to discuss the BDA account matter. This will give North Korea plenty of reasons to object to the approach.

Chun said that working groups are also intended to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

A government official also said, “It is still not decided if we will create working groups immediately after the six-party talks, or even if we will create them at all. It should be decided through the six-party talks.

Chun also predicted that North Korea will leverage the nuclear program as protection from outside and use it as a defense means, and will put off denuclearization until it is guaranteed its security and energy support.

Chun went on to say, “We are still confident that a diplomatic solution can be reached. The North Korean regime has no future without an economic reconstruction and China also knows that it cannot stop a nuclear domino unless it pressures North Korea.”

He also said, “The five nations involved in the talks besides North Korea must be ready to offer appropriate incentives if the North abandons its nukes. It will be regretful if we miss the chance to carry out the September 19 Joint Statement, because we were not ready to share the burden of rewarding the North.”