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North Korean foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan (left) shakes hands with Chinese vice foreign minister Wu Dawei in front of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, on July 10. Tokyo/AFP Yonhap News
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Seoul remains skeptical about dialogue being renewed
China has proposed an unofficial round of six-party talks regarding North Korea’s nuclear program. The talks would be held in Shenyang, Liaoning province, with participation by China, North and South Korea, Japan, the United States, and Russia.
Japan’s Kyodo News reported that on June 28, Chinese vice foreign minister Wu Dawei called the ambassadors of the six nations involved in the talks and proposed an "unofficial" round of talks in mid-July. The Asahi Shimbun reported the talks would begin the week after the G8 meeting set to begin on July 15.
A South Korean government official did not deny the reports. "That kind of idea has been [mulled] before," he said. Another official said there had been a similar proposal last December, when the six-party process became stalled over suspicions that North Korea has been counterfeiting American dollars, and that those unofficial talks were to have been held on South Korea’s Jeju Island. However, South Korean officials appear to have low expectations regarding the possibility this latest proposal will lead to a renewal of dialogue.
The confrontation over North Korea’s preparations for a missile launch has given China a bigger voice in developments regarding Pyongyang. U.S. president George W. Bush says he is going to depend on Chinese persuasion or pressure, and China, for its part, is calling on both Pyongyang and Washington to show restraint while it tries to facilitate a breakthrough, with most experts agreeing the best format for which is the six-party dialogues.
China seems dedicated to fulfilling its internationally high-profile role as unofficial mediator of the negotiations. Wu’s proposal came one day after South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon visited China to discuss with Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing the missile issue and the restarting of the six-party talks. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said July 29 that China will "continue close consultations with the countries participating in the talks and work constructively toward getting them restarted." There are direct flights from Pyongyang to Shenyang, and North Korea has a consulate there. China may have been trying to go out of its way to make things easier for the North Koreans to reenter dialogue. When Wu met with North Korean foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan in December, also unofficially, to talk about the counterfeiting issue, they met in Shenyang. Weeks later, on January 18, Wu and Kim met with top U.S. negotiator to the talks Christopher Hill in Beijing. Observers are watching closely what the U.S. and North Korea say in response. The two countries had the opportunity for bilateral meetings at the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) meeting in Tokyo last April, but the U.S. refused to talk directly with the North Koreans there. This time around, the Bush administration is under pressure from U.S. Congress and voices in the American public to talk directly with Pyongyang. However, even if the U.S. were ready for bilateral dialogue, it is doubtful the North Koreans would just show up without what they see as a good reason being given to them. Additional diplomatic activity that will likely include discussion about resuming the six-party talks includes a visit to the U.S. by South Korean presidential office foreign policy secretary Song Min-soon on July 4, and the ASEAN Regional Forum, set to begin in the middle of the month in Kuala Lumpur.
