[USFK Forums] U.S. shelves proposal on 6-party working groups [Kyodo]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Friday, Dec. 2, 2005] A dispatch from Japan's Kyodo News is uploaded as follows:
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Friday December 2, 9:25 AM

U.S. shelves proposal on 6-party working groups

(Kyodo) _ The U.S. State Department had worked out a proposal to set up five working groups before the fifth round of six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions was held last month in Beijing but put off presenting it, six-party sources said Thursday.

The proposal had been conveyed to Japan and South Korea before the fifth round on Nov. 9-11, but was shelved due to insufficient coordination among different U.S. agencies, which made it too premature to present it at the session, the sources said.

The postponement also came amid the increasing influence in the administration of hard-liners who want to take a tough line with North Korea and are pressing for it to dismantle its nuclear weapons and programs before implementing other measures in a joint statement adopted in September by the six parties at the fourth round.

But the United States is expected to present a detailed proposal on the working groups at the six-party talks expected to resume possibly in January, with the aim of having it serve as the basis for crafting a road map at an early stage toward resolving the nuclear issue. The talks also involve China and Russia.

The sources said the State Department came up with the proposal as various agencies within the U.S. administration worked to coordinate policy on the working groups before the fifth round was held. The proposal involves five working groups that deal with the following issues: verification and inspection of nuclear abandonment, energy and economic aid to North Korea, humanitarian and human rights issues, a peace mechanism for the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea's missiles.

The top U.S. delegate to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, explained the proposal to the Japanese and South Korean governments when he visited the two countries before the fifth round. Hill told Japanese and South Korea officials that he would present the proposal at the fifth round if top-level final approval could be obtained within the U.S. administration.

But he did not do so in the fifth round, which ended Nov. 11 without any notable progress as the six parties began talks on how to implement the joint statement. In the statement, the six parties agreed to discuss the provision of light-water reactors to North Korea "at an appropriate time" -- which has become the most contentious issue due to Pyongyang's demand that it receive the reactors before dismantling its nuclear programs.

North Korea agreed in the statement to abandon all its nuclear weapons and programs, rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accept inspections under the International Atomic Energy Agency in exchange for energy aid and other benefits.