U.S. gives North deadline for abiding by joint agreement

If North does not follow, 2008 will spell further sanctions, says U.S. envoy

The United States demanded that North Korea by the end of 2008 fully carry out the stipulations of the September 19 Joint Statement that Pyongyang agreed to last year, according to a December 3 report by the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The news agency said that during last month's discussions between the U.S. and North Korea in Beijing, the U.S. warned it would enact additional sanctions against Pyongyang if it still refuses to abide by the agreement, giving the North a deadline of three years following the statement's signature. The September 19 Joint Statement was signed in September of 2005.

During the recent Beijing meeting, North Korea's vice foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan is quoted as having "asked a lot of questions" of Christopher Hill, the top U.S. delegate to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Kim reportedly "promised nothing" and said only that he would return to Pyongyang for consultations. Kyodo quotes Hill as saying that "everything is possible" if the North first denuclearizes and that "nothing is possible" without the North giving up its nukes. Kyodo also said that Hill relayed to Kim that the U.S. hoped it can soon have Pyongyang's answer.

Earlier, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun said on December 2 that the U.S. has established four conditions for resuming the six-party talks, namely that the North completely close its nuclear test facility in Kilchu, that it stop activating nuclear-related facilities such as the graphite moderated reactor at Yongbyon, that it accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that it report to international bodies about all nuclear plans and facilities. The six-party talks, stalled for more than a year have recently been revived - though in word alone, with no date set for the official discussion to begin.

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