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North Korea's nuclear agreement hits a snag

P. S. Suryanarayana

Pyongyang insists on receiving light-water reactors from U.S.

SINGAPORE: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday affirmed that it would re-accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the safeguards under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "immediately" upon receiving light-water reactors from the United States.

The DPRK's statement was seen in the regional diplomatic circles as possibly the first sign of shadow-boxing over the interpretations of the six-party statement on the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. The Joint Statement was issued in Beijing on Monday following the conclusion of the fourth round of parleys among the United States, the DPRK, China as the host, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Pyongyang's new statement was monitored in Seoul, a traditional listening post for matters concerning the DPRK.

In the monitored statement, a spokesman of the DPRK's Foreign Ministry told the country's official news agency as follows: "As clarified in the Joint Statement, we will return to the NPT and sign the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA and [also] comply with it immediately upon the U.S.' provision of light-water reactors, a basis of confidence-building, to us."

Direct linkage

The DPRK's move of drawing such a direct linkage was variously seen by regional diplomats as either an effort by Pyongyang to soft-pedal its way to fulfilling the commitments it made under the Joint Statement or, perhaps, a matter of back-tracking.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura emphasised that there could be difficulties in implementing the Joint Statement, while South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young took the line that the issues of interpretation could be discussed and sorted out before the commencement of the fifth round, slated for November.

The issues arising out of the DPRK's statement were whether Pyongyang should first rejoin the NPT and subject itself to the IAEA safeguards before the other five parties could "discuss" the issue of providing a light-water reactor or whether these two aspects should be implemented simultaneously. In Tuesday's statement, the DPRK pointedly spoke about the actual provision of light-water reactors (in plurality) by the U.S., while the Joint Statement was about discussing the issue in recognition of Pyongyang's right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, diplomatic observers noted. In addition, the DPRK now projected the actual provision of light-water reactors as a confidence-building measure.

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