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North Korea proposes military talks with U.S.

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: North Korea on Friday proposed direct military talks with the United States for establishing an architecture of “peace and security” on the Korean peninsula.

The proposal, laced with a call that the U.S. stop its “preparations for a pre-emptive strike” against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), was announced by Pyongyang on the eve of a visit there by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA inspectors expressed optimism that their mission would prove “successful.” They were in Beijing on their way to North Korea. The arrival of these inspectors at the Yongbyon facility, said to be the nerve centre of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme, will herald the start of implementation of the six-party agreement on a range of “initial steps” towards North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.

South Korea on Thursday kick-started the implementation by shipping 6,200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to North Korea for electricity generation, and, China, which hosts the six-party talks, has announced that the parleys would resume next week. IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei, however, struck a note of caution by saying in Seoul that “it will take time to have a comprehensive solution.”

There was no reaction from Washington to the proposal for bilateral military parleys. But the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks, Christopher Hill, said in Tokyo on Friday that there could be an “overlap” between the establishment of a “peace regime” on the Korean peninsula and de-nuclearisation by the DPRK. South Korea, however, was surprised that it was excluded by the DPRK from any military talks with the U.S. on matters relating to the entire Korean peninsula.

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