China is calling on all six parties to the talks on?the
Korean Peninsula nuclear?standoff to be calm and flexible and
to continue the dialogue despite inevitable differences. The
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced on Monday
that it cannot attend the working-level talks under the current
circumstances.
"We believe the parties have the willingness to continue to
promote the process of peaceful talks," said Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Kong Quan amid flurries of diplomatic activities
aiming to set up a working-level meeting before the fourth round of
dialogue on the nuclear issue.
Kong also noted that it is unavoidable and normal for
differences to emerge in the course of talks.
At the end of the third round of the six-party talks, held in
Beijing in June, the six countries (China, the Republic of Korea,
the DPRK, the US, Japan and Russia) agreed to hold a fourth round
before the end of September. Working-level talks were planned to
lay the groundwork for the main session.
On Monday,?the DPRK?announced that it cannot attend
the working-level talks under the current circumstances, accusing
the US of continuing to pursue a hostile policy against it.
The Korean Central News Agency quoted a government spokesman as
saying that a nuclear freeze is possible but that it could only
lead to the dismantling of the country's nuclear program if the US
began to terminate its hostile acts against the DPRK.
Later that day, the US side dismissed the statement.
"We haven't heard anything from the North Koreans at this point
that would change our assumption about holding those talks," State
Department Press Relations Director Tom Casey said.
The issue erupted in October 2002 when US officials said
Pyongyang had admitted to pursuing a nuclear weapons program, while
Pyongyang accused Washington of labeling it as part of its "axis of
evil" and listing?the DPRK?as a potential target of
American preemptive nuclear strikes.
Fan Jishe, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, said that the?DPRK's announcement did not
indicate a change in its basic stance, which is that it would agree
to a non-nuclear peninsula with a US security guarantee.
Fan said the nuclear standoff has a complicated historic
background with its origins in the Korean conflict and the Cold
War, and troubles are likely to emerge because of a longstanding
lack of trust between?the DPRK?and the United States.
The two countries offered specific plans to resolve the issue
during the third round of talks in June. Both expressed willingness
to examine each other's proposals.
"It will be harder to resolve if (Washington and Pyongyang) do
not take further steps," Fan said.
China, the mediator and host of the three rounds of talks held
so far, has set out the general goals, direction and method to come
to a peaceful resolution.
On Monday, China's Vice Foreign Minister Shen Guofang met Li
Gun, the DPRK's chief delegate to the working-level talks. Li also
met Ning Fukui, Chinese ambassador in charge of the nuclear issue
in the Korean Peninsula.
(China Daily August 19, 2004)