[Cankor] Report #205

[cankor at cankor.ca]

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #205 of the CanKor Report.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
Contents section, should you wish to consult the originals on the internet.
If the links no longer function, you may refer to the full text articles
appended to the issue.

For back issues, archives and other content, please visit our website:
http://www.cankor.ca

The CanKor team

*************************************************
CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE
CanKor # 205
Friday, 13 May 2005
*************************************************
The DPRK announces that the remaining spent fuel rods have been removed 
from the Yongbyon nuclear power plant and US satellite photos capture 
“suspicious activity” near the DPRK northeast coast town of Kilju.
Intelligence agencies struggle to reach a consensus on the actual 
significance of the activity detected. Part of the problem is matching 
up what satellites see with speculation about the DPRK’s true 
intentions. Is the DPRK preparing for a nuclear test, bluffing or 
issuing a plea for help?
As tensions rose during recent heated rhetoric, nations involved in the 
six-party talks adopt a more conciliatory stance. In response to the 
DPRK’s insistence that the US “drop its hostile policy” and give 
security assurances, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reports to CNN 
that the US “recognizes that [the DPRK] is sovereign” and has no 
intention of invading.
Reflecting a growing Chinese frustration with the Bush administration, 
Yang Xiyu, a senior Foreign Ministry official and China's top official 
on the DPRK nuclear talks, blames the US for undermining efforts to 
revive the six-party talks. IAEA Chief, Mohammed ElBaradei, calls the 
DPRK’s conduct “a cry for help” and urges the US to adjust its 
“hard-line stance” in order to allow the six-party talks to resume.
The six nations involved are divided on how to proceed. While Japan and 
the US talk of taking the issue to the UN Security Council, China, 
Russia and the ROK urge patience and calm, even as they seek 
alternatives to the six-party format.
*************************************************

Contents:
1. DPRK CLAIMS FUEL RODS UNLOADED FROM NUCLEAR PLANT
www.kcna.co.jp/item/2005/200505/20050512.htm
2. WHAT ARE DPR KOREANS UP TO? US AGENCIES CAN'T AGREE 
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/politics/12intel.html?ex=1116561600&en=2d47d028ce20fad2&ei=5070 

3. DPR KOREANS CLAIM TO EXTRACT FUEL FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/international/asia/12korea.html?ex=1116561600&en=22165b281f4cbace&ei=5070 

4. NATIONS SOFTEN TO SAVE SIX-PARTY TALKS
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200505/200505100016.html
5. PLEA TO RESTART SIX-PARTY TALKS
www.guardian.co.uk/
6. CHINA SAYS US IMPEDED DPRK ARMS TALKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/international/asia/13korea.html?ex=1116648000&en=a3b33f15558974bd&ei=5070 

7. RUSSIA TO PROPOSE TRILATERAL TALKS WITH TWO KOREAS
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050505/430100000020050505224256E2.html
*************************************************

1. DPRK CLAIMS FUEL RODS UNLOADED FROM NUCLEAR PLANT
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), 11 May 2005

A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday gave the 
following answer to the question raised by KCNA as regards the 
completion of the unloading of spent fuel rods from its pilot nuclear 
plant: The relevant field of the DPRK has successfully finished the 
unloading of 8,000 spent fuel rods from the 5MW pilot nuclear plant in 
the shortest period recently.
The DPRK had already declared in Dec. 2002 that it would re-operate the 
above-said plant and resume the construction of two other nuclear 
plants, one with a capacity of 50,000 kw and the other with a capacity 
of 200,000 kw which had been frozen according to the DPRK-US Agreed 
Framework the keynote of which is the provision of light water reactors 
to the DPRK because the Bush administration threatened the DPRK with 
nuclear weapons in violation of the AF.
Accordingly, the DPRK keeps taking necessary measures to bolster its 
nuclear arsenal for the defensive purpose of coping with the prevailing 
situation, with a main emphasis on developing the self-reliant nuclear 
power industry.
*************************************************

2. WHAT ARE DPR KOREANS UP TO? US AGENCIES CAN'T AGREE
New York Times, 12 May 2005

America's intelligence agencies often struggle to reach consensus on 
what is happening in the intelligence black hole of North Korea. That 
has been particularly true in the past month, as officials examine 
satellite images suggesting that something suspicious is happening in 
the mountains near the town of Kilju, on the country's northeast coast.
North Korea said Wednesday that it had taken spent fuel rods from a 
reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. To some, including several 
North Korea experts who have served across a number of administrations, 
the activity is the latest sign that North Korea may be preparing for 
its first test of a nuclear weapon.
The new American ambassador to Japan, J. Thomas Schieffer, seemed to 
suggest as much when he told a group of Japanese lawmakers that "I 
believe they have taken some preparatory steps" for a test, as an 
embassy spokesman quoted him saying. Japanese officials quoted Mr. 
Schieffer as calling a test highly likely, according to Kyodo, a 
Japanese news agency - a view held by some North Korea experts in 
Washington.
But the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, asked if this 
confirmed that North Korea had indeed taken the first steps toward a 
test, replied, "I wouldn't quite read as much into his statements as you 
do."
A similar ambiguity pervades what various intelligence officials have 
been saying in recent days as they describe their views on broad 
questions like the intentions and capabilities of Kim Jong Il, North 
Korea's leader, and narrower questions like whether, in fact, the North 
Koreans have built a reviewing stand so that their leaders can feel the 
ground shake if a test happens.
Last week, three sources in different parts of the United States 
government told The New York Times that they had seen or been briefed on 
evidence of what looked like grandstands erected at a distance from the 
suspected test site, raising suspicions that preparations were in place 
for observers of a possible test. They acknowledged that even if there 
were grandstands, they could exist for another purpose.
But one agency cautioned at the same time that it knew of no evidence of 
any such structure. This week officials at the intelligence arm of the 
State Department expressed the same view. As written intelligence 
reports are usually shared among agencies, their inability to confirm 
the information was striking.
Some positions are shifting: a senior administration official who 
confirmed the presence of the grandstand last week said late Wednesday 
that he was now uncertain whether the structure was related to the test 
site. But he said he was more concerned than ever that the North might 
be tempted to test.
Because the issue of North Korea's obtaining nuclear weapons is of such 
far-reaching importance, and because this kind of military intelligence 
is so highly sensitive, officials will describe the intelligence only 
very cautiously, each divulging only limited information, and none 
agreeing to be identified, or even to let their organizations be named. 
Those involved in trying to interpret intelligence from North Korea are 
haunted by a long history of missteps - both overestimating and 
underestimating the country's abilities.
"There's a reason I call North Korea the longest-running intelligence 
failure in the history of American espionage," said Donald Gregg, a CIA 
station chief in Seoul during the cold war who returned there as the 
American ambassador. "And I can say that with pride because I was part 
of the failure."
The Bush administration has long been a divided camp on how to deal with 
North Korea - whether to pressure the country until it collapses or 
negotiate with it in hopes it will give up its weapons. As that debate 
has continued, North Korea has stepped up its claims of progress in a 
nuclear arms program that it once denied existed at all. So, on the 
immediate question of what is happening above Kilju, the problem is 
matching up what satellites see with estimates of what the North Koreans 
want the United States to believe.
Trucks have been moving in and out of the site for months, and lately 
some technical analysts have said they believe the trucks are bringing 
in material to fill a hole, sometimes a sign that an underground test 
site is being sealed up again. Others have reported similar evidence.
But the White House also warned of a possible test last October, because 
of similar activity, and was worried about the issue (though it said 
nothing publicly) during a spate of activity in January. Part of the 
problem, experts say, is that because North Korea has never conducted a 
test, no one understands whether its preparations look like the kind 
that were seen in the old Soviet Union or in China, both of which have 
helped North Korea's program in years past. "We might not know until it 
is fired off," one American official conceded the other day. Another 
said that while the activity was worrying, it could be "part of the ebb 
and flow of what we've seen for a while."
Of course, there is the possibility - some say probability - that the 
North is engaging in either deception or deliberate message-sending. The 
problem is made more difficult by the fact that the United States has 
almost no human spies, and there are so few telephones in North Korea 
that there is not much conversation to tap. Moreover, some experts say 
that assessments may be colored by mistakes made seven years ago - 
mistakes that produced contradictory lessons.
In 1998 American intelligence agencies missed the evidence that India 
and Pakistan were preparing to test their nuclear weapons, an 
intelligence failure that prompted official inquiries that concluded the 
United States could never make the same mistake again.
But the same year, satellite images of a secret nuclear site called 
Kumchang-ri, near North Korea's border with China, led to a scare that 
the North was building a secret reactor or reprocessing plant to cheat 
on its agreements with the United States. The United States demanded 
access. When North Korea granted it - in return for some aid - the 
inspectors found a huge cavern. It was empty. To this day, arguments 
persist about whether North Korea abandoned the project when it was 
caught, or was digging to deceive.
*************************************************

3. DPR KOREANS CLAIM TO EXTRACT FUEL FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS
by James Brooke, New York Times, 12 May 2005

North Korea said Wednesday [See item 1. – CanKor] that it had harvested 
a nuclear reactor for weapons fuel, the country's latest effort to put 
pressure on the Bush administration and its allies. North Korea said 
Wednesday that it had taken spent fuel rods from a reactor at its 
Yongbyon nuclear complex.
But intelligence and Pentagon officials said that as of late Wednesday 
they had seen no evidence to confirm or disprove the assertion. Outside 
experts expressed skepticism that North Korea's action, even if 
confirmed, would significantly increase its weapons stockpile.
In a statement, North Korea said it had removed 8,000 spent fuel rods 
from a reactor at its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon as one of several 
"necessary measures" to bolster its nuclear arsenal. In the worst case, 
experts have said, by removing and reprocessing the fuel rods, North 
Korea could produce fuel-grade plutonium for one to three nuclear 
weapons. But their suspicions were aroused because by leaving the rods 
inside the reactor for another year, North Korea could have obtained a 
much better yield of weapons fuel.
"There is a lot of symbolism and taunting here," one senior 
administration official said.
North Korea expelled international inspectors in late 2002, and without 
them, it is impossible to independently verify its claims. Both outside 
analysts and administration officials note that North Korean leaders 
could be bluffing in an attempt to wrest concessions from the United 
States in long-stalled six-nation negotiations to persuade North Korea 
to abandon its nuclear program.
Or, they said, the North Koreans could have pulled the fuel from the 
reactor early because of technical problems, or because of fears that 
the United States would order a strike on the reactor, a step that 
President Bill Clinton considered in 1994, during a previous crisis.
The shutdown of the reactor about a month ago, and Wednesday's 
statement, appear to be part of a North Korean effort to convince the 
world that it is already a nuclear weapons state, capable of both 
producing weapons and supplying itself with weapons-grade plutonium. On 
Thursday, Vice Minister of Unification Rhee Bong-Jo of South Korea said 
the reactor was closed March 31.
North Korea declared for the first time on Feb. 10 that it possessed 
nuclear weapons. The five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon, the country's 
tightly guarded nuclear complex, was probably shut in early April, 
intelligence analysts said, based on satellite photos. By late last 
month a debate broke out in the American intelligence agencies over 
whether the shutdown was prompted by a need to perform maintenance, or a 
move to pull the rods out. Last week, two officials, one American and 
one foreign, reported that a platform and large crates were seen near 
the reactor.
"They gave me the impression that the unloading had started," Selig S. 
Harrison, a North Korea specialist and the director of the Asia program 
at the Center for International Policy in Washington, said by telephone 
Wednesday of meetings he had with North Korean officials in Pyongyang, 
the capital, from April 5 to 9.
Rods can be safely removed from a reactor shortly after a shutdown, 
nuclear experts said. But then they need to be cooled. After that they 
need to go through a complex process called "reprocessing" to extract 
weapons-grade plutonium.
Over the next 18 months, North Korea could produce fuel for one to three 
bombs from the rods, according to Daniel A. Pinkston, director of the 
East Asia Nonproliferation Program of the Monterey Institute of 
International Studies. Removing rods and storing them in water tanks in 
a building adjacent to the reactor takes about six weeks, Dr. Pinkston 
said by telephone from California. But it would take at least six months 
for the rods to cool sufficiently for safe reprocessing. Reprocessing 
110 tons of rods from the reactor core would take another year, he 
estimated.
In an interview in Washington on Wednesday, Robert Alvarez, a former 
senior policy adviser to the Department of Energy who visited the 
reactor in North Korea 11 years ago, cautioned against racing to the 
conclusion that North Korea was capable of making the fuel into weapons.
"You have to think about the variables, not just the worst-case 
scenarios," he said. He called the site "very primitive" and said a 
problem with the rods might have forced North Korea to withdraw them 
from the reactor. "We saw some problems when we were there," he said, 
"and we don't know if they have been fixed." The rods would be likely to 
yield some bomb-grade material. The question is how much.
Recently, American officials have debated whether satellite photos 
indicate that North Korea is preparing for a first nuclear test. The 
removal and repacking of earth in an underground tunnel in Kilju, a 
remote area with no known mining, may indicate that North Korea is 
preparing a test, officials have said. But they also warn it could be a 
bluff.
On Wednesday in Tokyo, J. Thomas Schieffer, the United States ambassador 
to Japan, entered into that debate. He told officials of New Komeito, a 
pacifist party, that North Korea appeared to be moving toward a test, 
but he stopped short of saying they would conduct one.
"I believe they have taken some preparatory steps," the ambassador said, 
according to a United States Embassy official. Referring to the 
American-led regional effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear 
bombs, he added, "If there is a test, it would a be serious blow to the 
process." But the State Department was more cautious, with the spokesman 
in Washington, Richard A. Boucher, when asked whether Mr. Schieffer was 
indicating a test could be forthcoming, saying, "I wouldn't quite read 
as much into his statements as you do."
Japan is downwind of North Korea and could be affected by an open-air 
test. North Korea's arsenal of medium range missiles are believed to be 
intended as a potential threat to Japanese cities or American bases in 
Japan. On Wednesday night, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan 
played down North Korea's statement. "It has been making gamesmanship 
sort of remarks," he said of North Korea, according to Kyodo News 
Agency. "The point is we will have to get through to North Korea that 
returning quickly to the six-party talks and scrapping the nuclear 
program will best serve its interests."
Calls for a negotiated solution came Wednesday from officials in 
Washington, Beijing and Seoul, South Korea. "The provocative statements 
and actions by North Korea only further isolate it from the 
international community," Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, 
told reporters. "China obviously has considerable influence that they 
can use to help get North Korea back to the talks and get North Korea to 
end its nuclear ambitions." On Tuesday, a spokesman for China's Foreign 
Ministry ruled out applying economic or political sanctions to pressure 
North Korea.
South Korea also expressed concern. "Such a move by North Korea runs 
counter to moves to make the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons," 
South Korea's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lee Kyu Hyun, said in a 
statement on the ministry Web site.
"North Korea seems to have extracted the fuel rods as a means of gaining 
advantage in future talks," Mr. Rhee, the vice minister of unification, 
told reporters in Seoul on Thursday, Bloomberg reported. "Still, its 
actions may negatively affect efforts to restart the six-party talks."
*************************************************

4. NATIONS SOFTEN TO SAVE SIX-PARTY TALKS
Chosun Ilbo, 10 May 2005

In a last-ditch effort to rescue stalled six-party North Korean nuclear 
disarmament talks, the other nations involved on Tuesday adopted a more 
conciliatory stance after recent heated rhetoric produced no results. 
While the US repeated it recognizes North Korea as a sovereign nation, 
South Korea called a press conference to say it was unconvinced that 
activity observed by spy satellites in the North's Kilju, North 
Hamgyeong Province was preparation for a nuclear test.
US hardliners appear sidelined for the time being as various leading 
figures stressed the importance of the six-party framework in resolving 
the nuclear standoff. After a US-Russia summit on Monday, White House 
National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley reconfirmed the importance of 
the six-nation talks, while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice again 
stressed on CNN that her government "recognizes that North Korea is 
sovereign." The State Department said separately Washington could hold 
bilateral talks with Pyongyang -- a long-standing North Korean demand -- 
so long as they happen within the six-party template.
It appears that more belligerent US plans like referring the dispute to 
the UN Security Council have been put on the back burner after a series 
of summits with South Korea, China and Russia. Russian President 
Vladimir Putin said after his meeting with Bush it was unwise to force 
North Korea into a corner. Moscow had earlier seemed sympathetic to the 
Security Council solution but apparently changed its mind. Chinese 
President Hu Jintao also urged Bush to soften his stance, while the US 
confirmed it was powerless to drag North Korea before the Security 
Council if veto-holders China and Russia oppose the move.
Seoul tried to put out the flames sparked by talk of an impending 
nuclear test. "According to intelligence exchanged with the US, there 
are no signs North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test," an official 
said on condition of anonymity. "As of now, we don't think [construction 
work in Kilju] is a facility for testing a nuclear device." He said 
Washington at no point told Seoul otherwise or passed on any satellite 
photos pointing to a test -- a direct contradiction to claims by unnamed 
US officials reported earlier by the New York Times. He said all that 
had been confirmed was construction of a tunnel, while dumpster trucks 
involved in home construction at the site had been confirmed several 
years ago.
"We've never been informed of intelligence that the tunnel was being 
filled in or a viewing stand constructed," he said referring to the NYT 
report. "Would it make sense for someone to build a reviewing stand near 
[an underground] nuclear test?" He added "even three-quarters of 
Americans" did not believe the report. However, the official couched his 
remarks in careful qualifications like "up till now" and "we have not 
been told."
But hopes for an early resumption of the talks are slim. North Korea 
once again said Tuesday it would not sit down with a "hooligan nation" 
-- meaning the US, while the American press reported China's Hu could 
postpone a planned visit to Pyongyang out of dissatisfaction with North 
Korea. "It's a fact that the entire international community is concerned 
and feels a great sense of frustration," a high-ranking official in 
Seoul said. But he added this was not the time to speak of a crisis.
*************************************************

5. PLEA TO RESTART SIX-PARTY TALKS
Ian Traynor, Guardian Weekly, 15 May 2005

China, South Korea and the UN's nuclear watchdog pleaded on Monday with 
North Korea and the US to resume talks as the International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated that Pyongyang already had enough 
material for up to six bombs. While South Korean and Chinese leaders met 
in Moscow and urged the North Korean regime to return to the table after 
almost a year of stalemate, Mohammed ElBaradei, chief of the IAEA, 
tacitly called on the US administration to adjust its hard line to allow 
six-party talks to resume.
With North Korea feared to be preparing to make its first nuclear test 
explosion within weeks, the pleas came amid a growing sense of showdown 
between Washington and Pyongyang, and growing pessimism over whether a 
solution can be found. American officials believe new satellite 
photographs of North Korea show intensive preparations for a possible 
nuclear weapons test, it was reported last week.
The imagery is said to show tunnels being dug under a mountain in the 
northeast of the country and rock and building materials being taken 
back in, possibly in an effort to contain an underground blast. Details 
of the satellite intelligence were reported by the New York Times last 
week, quoting Pentagon and White House officials. They expressed 
caution, however, that the apparent test preparations could be a ruse to 
pressure the US into concessions at the negotiating table.
With North Korea also said to be extracting weapons-grade plutonium from 
its Yongbyon reactor, Dr ElBaradei told CNN that it was using blackmail 
tactics in an attempt to obtain better terms from the US. Its conduct 
was "a cry for help", he said. A western diplomat closely following the 
crisis said the IAEA chief was calling on the US to be more conciliatory.
Though the IAEA's inspectors were kicked out of North Korea three years 
ago when it withdrew from the non-proliferation pact, "the North Koreans 
have been signalling for 18 months that they're ready to talk. But they 
want to be in a position where they don't feel threatened by the US," 
said the diplomat.
US officials recently warned that North Korea was moving towards its 
first bomb test, citing satellite pictures of a suspicious excavation. 
Last month it shut the 5MW Yongbyon reactor, allegedly to extract more 
bomb-grade plutonium. The Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in 
California has said Yongbyon could yield material for three bombs, and 
estimated that North Korea could have 11 in all by next year. Dr 
ElBaradei said the IAEA, estimated that Pyongyang already had enough for 
up to six bombs. A test missile fired into the Sea of Japan last month 
was seen as suggesting that the military could deliver a warhead.
Observers view the expected bomb test as the most alarming sign yet. "A 
bomb test throws down the gauntlet. It says we're ready to fight," said 
the diplomat. Dr ElBaradei warned last week that a bomb test would be 
"disastrous" politically and environmentally. Observers also cautioned, 
however, that Pyongyang may neither be extracting plutonium nor be about 
to test -- it may merely be stoking suspicion to try to strengthen its 
negotiating hand.
Given the impasse and the escalating pessimism, the six parties involved 
in any talks are divided on how to proceed. Japan and the US have talked 
of taking North Korea to the UN Security Council and imposing penalties 
and sanctions. China and South Korea oppose this. China, and Russia, 
could veto such a move.
*************************************************

6. CHINA SAYS US IMPEDED DPRK ARMS TALKS
New York Times, 12 May 2005

A senior Chinese diplomat on Thursday accused the Bush administration of 
undermining efforts to revive negotiations with the North Korean 
government and said there was "no solid evidence" that North Korea was 
preparing to test a nuclear weapon.
The comments by Yang Xiyu, a senior Foreign Ministry official and 
China's top official on the North Korean nuclear problem, were 
noteworthy because the Chinese authorities very rarely speak to 
journalists about the issue. The comments reflect growing frustration in 
Beijing with the Bush administration.
Even as the White House presses China to find a solution to the nuclear 
issue, Chinese officials say, it has hurled insults at North Korea and 
given its leaders excuses to stay away from the bargaining table.
"It is true that we do not yet have tangible achievements" in ending 
North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Mr. Yang said in an interview. 
"But a basic reason for the unsuccessful effort lies in the lack of 
cooperation from the US side."
Mr. Yang said that when President Bush referred to the North Korea 
leader, Kim Jong Il, as a "tyrant" in late April, Mr. Bush "destroyed 
the atmosphere" for negotiations, undoing weeks of efforts to persuade 
North Korea that the United States would bargain in good faith.
China, which has used its diplomatic clout to try to broker a peaceful 
solution to the nuclear crisis, has struggled to restart six-nation 
negotiations, which stalled nearly a year ago. Mr. Yang said formally on 
Thursday what diplomats here had been whispering for months: personal 
attacks against Mr. Kim by Mr. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
and other top administration officials had caused a "loss of face" for 
North Korean officials and created big obstacles to reaching any 
negotiated solution.
He urged the Bush administration to find some "informal channel" to talk 
with North Korean diplomats, perhaps over coffee or a meal, to build 
confidence. American officials have resisted any direct contact with 
North Koreans outside the six-nation talks. Mr. Yang said that without 
some new gestures the obstacles to resuming negotiations could prove 
insurmountable.
"I know the US is reluctant to have even informal contacts" with North 
Korea, he said. "But as the world's superpower, I would hope it can show 
more flexibility and sincerity to make a resumption of talks possible."
The Beijing government is determined to head off a looming confrontation 
between the United States and North Korea, which it fears could prompt a 
regional nuclear arms race and shatter the stability that has 
underpinned China's own economic rise. But the prospects for a 
negotiated solution have diminished after the recriminations between the 
United States and North Korea and warnings by American officials that 
North Korea has accelerated its development of nuclear bombs and may be 
preparing to test a nuclear device.
Mr. Yang said China would be "very concerned" about a nuclear test. But 
he said he doubted North Korea would take that step now, adding that 
China had made it "very, very clear" to North Korea that a test or any 
other provocative display of its nuclear capability would have serious 
consequences. North Korea "understands the consequences very clearly," 
Mr. Yang said. "I do not think we should reach the conclusion that there 
will be a test."
Some American and Chinese analysts have speculated that North Korea may 
have made preparations for a test in full view of American spy 
satellites to create a sense of urgency about its nuclear program and 
lay the groundwork for demanding greater concessions if negotiations 
resume. But others say they believe North Korea is determined to become 
a full-fledged nuclear power and is prepared to weather penalties that 
may be imposed as it pursues that goal.
The United States and China worked closely together to organize multiple 
rounds of talks with North Korea that also included South Korea, Japan 
and Russia. Not since the two countries coordinated strategies against 
the former Soviet Union in the 1980's have they cooperated on a 
diplomatic project for such an extended period. But tensions have risen 
as North Korea has appeared to be continuing to develop its nuclear 
arsenal and has resisted returning to the talks.
Bush administration officials contend that China must begin using more 
economic and political leverage to pressure North Korea. China has 
rejected "strong-arm tactics" and suggested, usually in private, that 
the United States stop demonizing North Korea. Mr. Yang expressed some 
puzzlement as to why the United States had pushed China to cut off oil 
or fuel supplies to North Korea - part of its lifeline of support for 
the government, which is in need of money - at the same time that it 
professed to want to resume negotiations.
"If you look at history you cannot find many successful cases in which 
sanctions achieved a successful result," he said. Mr. Yang disputed an 
account of a meeting he held with Assistant Secretary of State 
Christopher Hill that was carried last week in The Washington Post. In 
that account, Mr. Yang was quoted as rejecting American demands to cut 
off North Korea's fuel supplies, but as indicating that China might 
withhold food aid as a way of forcing North Korea to resume talks.
Mr. Yang said Thursday that he did not discuss those options with Mr. 
Hill. He said he did not see the need for any penalties, involving food, 
oil shipments or other measures, as long as the six nations involved in 
talks were still trying to keep the negotiations alive. He also rejected 
the idea, put forward by the United States and Japan, of involving the 
United Nations Security Council in the matter.
But he also said China was opposed to imposing penalties "for now," 
leaving open the possibility that it could change its mind if North 
Korea exploded a nuclear device or abandoned its commitment to pursuing 
a peaceful settlement.
*************************************************

7. RUSSIA TO PROPOSE TRILATERAL TALKS WITH TWO KOREAS
Yonhap News Service, 5 May 2005

Moscow will propose holding three-party talks with Seoul and Pyongyang 
to resolve North Korea's nuclear weapons problem, a Russian radio 
station reported Thursday.
A 30-month global dispute over the North's nuclear activities is 
expected to be the main topic of discussion as a Russian parliamentary 
delegation began a three-day trip to Pyongyang on Thursday.
*************************************************

End CanKor # 205

*************************************************
CanKor is an electronic information service for readers interested in 
the issues of peace and security on the Korean peninsula, published by 
Weingartner Consulting. Financial support is received from the Canadian 
International Development Agency (CIDA). Views expressed on the CanKor 
website or weekly digest are those of the respective authors, and do not 
necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of CanKor, CIDA 
or Weingartner Consulting. CanKor accepts no liability for inaccuracies, 
errors or omissions. Copyright of all items listed or reprinted rests 
with the original publishers. CanKor provides links to originals when 
available. To subscribe or unsubscribe, and for all other communication, 
please address the CanKor editorial team by e-mail at editor at CanKor.ca. 
Editor: Erich Weingartner; Managing Editor: Miranda Weingartner; 
Research: Marion Current, Ilene Solomon; Web developer: David Seguin. 
Please visit our website at: www.CanKor.ca
*************************************************