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Seoul's Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan used his first press briefing since taking office on Wednesday to call for the North to fulfill its denuclearization obligations, warning that a further delay would sap the momentum of the hard-won disarmament process.
The North Korean nuclear issue "is making no progress" due to a deadlock over the country's alleged uranium enrichment program and nuclear technology transfer to Syria, Yu said. "I am concerned that the six-way (nuclear) talks may lose momentum," he said.
Under the six-nation agreement reached in February last year, the North completed the first phase of disarmament in July by shutting down and sealing its plutonium-producing reactor at the country's main nuclear complex in return for energy aid. But it has failed to finish the second phase of the disarmament deal that called for a declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of last year, delaying the third and final phase of dismantling its atomic weapons programs.
The North says it submitted a nuclear list in November, but the United States insists it must account fully for a suspected uranium weapons program. Pyongyang has flatly denied the existence of a uranium enrichment program and any transfer of nuclear technology and materials to other countries.
"A complete and correct declaration is a key to moving to the next stage," Yu told the press conference. "I expect a quick resolution of the declaration issue," he said. The new diplomatic chief also vowed to strengthen policy coordination with the United States in dealing with the nuclear standoff and other regional and global issues.
"The (Seoul) government will work out a vision for the alliance in the 21st century through close consultations with the United States," he said. "We would deepen the alliance with the United States beyond the Korean peninsula to jointly handle Northeast Asian and global issues."
Yu plans to travel to the United States on March 25-29 to discuss the bilateral alliance and tackle the North Korean nuclear issues, ahead of a planned trip to Japan slated for April 5-6. He leaves for China next week for a three-day visit.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak plans to visit the United States April 15-19, which will be followed by a two-day trip to Japan on his way back home.
Adding to pressure on the North, the top U.S. envoy in Seoul said North Korea must send a "clear signal" that it plans to give a complete accounting of its nuclear programs so that Washington could move toward improving ties with Pyongyang.
The United States would not take North Korea off its terrorism blacklist "until we see a clear signal from the North Koreans that they are going to do their part with regards to the declaration," Ambassador Alexander Vershbow told a news conference in Seoul earlier this week. "There is a sense of impatience building up and we want to get on with it," he said.
The envoy called for a quick move from the North if it wishes to avoid a tougher stance from Seoul and Washington. "I think it is clear that North Korea has to adjust to closer relations between Washington and Seoul," he said.
The sense of urgency came as top nuclear negotiators from Washington and Pyongyang plan to meet in Geneva later this week, in a new push to break the nuclear impasse. "We hope that progress will be made at the Geneva talks so that the six-party process may move forward to the next stage," Yu said.
According to diplomatic sources, the Geneva talks may focus on a proposed compromise crafted by China, which has hosted the six-nation nuclear talks. Under the proposed deal, the North may declare its plutonium-producing facilities in an open document, while admitting the uranium-based program in a separate, secret document.
The next step would be closed-door two-way contacts between Pyongyang and Washington to resolve the uranium-based program, according to the sources.
Suh Jae-jean, a senior researcher at the government-run Korea Institute for National Unification, expects Pyongyang and Washington to accept the compromise deal because both want a resolution before the Bush administration leaves in early 2009.
"The current standoff can be resolved by drawing up two documents that will enable North Korea to save face and prevent backlash within the United States," Suh told a group of journalists. "One document should be an agreement made public and the other, an undisclosed document," he said.
Suh said the North is expected to make a strategic decision within this month. "North Korea wants normalization of diplomatic ties with the United States as a survival strategy. In addition, the North's economic situation is too dire to reject the aid-for-disarmament deal," he said.
