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Pyongyang wants a ’package deal’ before discussing its nukes
Selig Harrison, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said on September 28 that North Korea wants a so-called "package deal" through bilateral talks with the United States prior to the next six-party talks. At a lecture at Johns Hopkins University’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Harrison, a U.S. expert on North Korea, said that he heard this from Kim Kye Gwan, North Korean chief negotiator to the six-nation talks and vice foreign minister, during Harrison’s 10th visit to the communist nation on September 19-23. Pyongyang wants to see evidence of Washington’s easing its hostile policy against North Korea, Harrison said, and that Washington will not pursue collapse of the North Korean system. If such demands are accepted, he said, North Korea will freeze its Yongbyon nuclear facilities, stop construction of the Taechon plant, and return to a missile test moratorium, according to Harrison. North Korea wants to get support in joining international financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to be exempted from a list of terror-supporting nations, and to get energy assistance, he said. Vice Minister Kim indicated that North Korea knows well that the six-party talks are important and his nation would benefit from following the September 19, 2005 Joint Declaration, according to Harrison. Kim, however, said Pyongyang will remove fuel rods from the Yeongbyeon plant within this year, Harrison said, indicating it would do so as a bargaining card with the U.S.Lt. Gen. Ri Chan Bok of the North Korean People’s Army, with whom Harrison met, reportedly said that North Korea already possess nuclear weapons, but the nation is so small that it cannot conduct nuclear tests due to concerns over radioactive fallout. A rumor of a possible North Korean nuclear test has been circulating in intelligence circles since Pyongyang test-fired a series of missiles in early July this year. During a speech at the U.N. general assembly meeting on September 29, Choi Su Heon, North Korea’s vice minister of foreign affairs, said, "If the agreed conditions [of the September 19 Joint Statement] are executed, Pyongyang has much to gain; therefore, our nation wants to resume the six-nation talks more than any other nation," reported the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "A principle upon which we cannot compromise is that we cannot part in the dialogue under a situation in which the U.S. maintains inappropriate financial sanctions against us," added Choi. His remarks echoed a statement issued by a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson on August 26.
