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Resuming denuclearization talks needed even with lowered barriers

Resuming denuclearization talks needed even with lowered barriers

Posted October. 23, 2014 04:47,   

한국어

Sydney Seiler, U.S. special envoy on the six-party talks with North Korea, commented on preconditions for the resumption of the stalled multilateral negotiations. "In terms of what the other countries would do, imagine a scenario in which the DPRK announces its returning to six-party talks, it agrees to a moratorium on nuclear tests, on missiles launches, halt to its nuclear programs," he said. The remarks are a step back from the demand by the United States, South Korea and Japan that the North take actions in addition to the February 29, 2012 agreement.

The February 29 agreement, the only nuclear pact reached between the Barack Obama administration and the North, calls for a halt to Pyongyang`s uranium enrichment program, suspension of nuclear and missile tests and allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors` entry into the communist state.

Just in time, North Korea released Jeffrey Fowle, one of three U.S. citizens who had been detained in the North, sending a signal for its willingness to hold dialogue.

The North Korean nuclear issue has not been resolved for two decades since 1994, when the United States considered a "surgical strike" on the North`s nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. The October 1994 Geneva Agreement collapsed when Pyongyang admitted that it had secretly developed nuclear weapons with uranium. The six-party talks, which began in August 2003, have been suspended since a chief negotiators` meeting in December 2008. Despite the September 19, 2005 joint statement on the North`s abandonment of its nuclear weapons and development program, the six-nation talks went nowhere because of the lack of Pyongyang`s sincerity toward the negotiations.

The issue is that the North has been increasing its nuclear threats since the suspension of the six-party talks. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an independent think tank on global security, estimated in this year`s report that the North possesses six to eight nuclear warheads. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency thinks that the North has already developed a small-sized nuclear warhead that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. As the North showed signs of conducting its fourth nuclear test earlier this year, it should no longer be let to build up its nuclear arsenal.

Military strikes on the North`s nuclear facilities is not a realistic option because it could lead to a war. International sanctions on the North have failed to produce the desired effects due to China`s support for the North. Dialogue is the only way to resolve the issue. Just as South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in New York last month, the international community should seek a "creative approach to find a multifactorial solution." Denuclearization talks can flexibly adopt various frameworks involving two to four parties. If dialogue can lead the North to ultimately give up its nuclear ambition, lowering the barriers for talks would be better than no talking at all.