North Korea misses nuke declaration deadline

[David]

AP


SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea failed to meet a year-end deadline to declare all its nuclear programs under an aid-for-disarmament deal, prompting disappointed reactions Monday from South Korea, the United States and Japan.

The three countries, along with China and Russia, have been pushing North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs in a series of negotiations that began in 2003 and finally gained momentum in 2007.

Washington and Seoul have said they believe that the overall disarmament process, though falling behind schedule, is still on track.

Pyongyang promised in February to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for energy aid and political concessions. In October, it vowed to disable its nuclear facilities and declare its programs by the end of the year in return for the equivalent of 1 million tons of oil from South Korea, the U.S., China and Russia.

South Korean media have reported that Pyongyang has so far received 150,000 tons of oil, and the North began disabling the reactor last month with U.S. experts watching.

The U.S. expressed disappointment at the delay in the promised declaration.

"There has been no last minute change. It is unfortunate but we're going to keep on working on this," said Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the State Department said Monday. "We're still committed to getting a declaration and we want that declaration to be full and complete."

"The declaration is critical," Casey added, speaking to reporters. "This can't be a situation where they pretend to give us a full declaration and we pretend to believe them. This has to be full and complete and that's why, I think, this is taking extra time."

In Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry called the lack of a declaration "unfortunate" and called for it to be released "at the earliest possible date."

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said: "Our government urges North Korea to faithfully declare all nuclear programs at an early date and complete disablement steps without delay," and called it "regrettable" that the country has so far failed to provide the promised list.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon had said last week that the disclosure announcement "may go past the target date."

China and Russia were silent on the issue. North Korean state media made no mention Monday of the declaration.

The reasons for the delay in declaring the programs appear related to the country's suspected uranium enrichment program and differences with Washington over how much plutonium it has produced.

Song, South Korea's top diplomat, said last week that more consultation was required on the uranium program, while a Japanese newspaper reported that Pyongyang and Washington disagree on the plutonium issue.

The Tokyo Shimbun quoted unnamed U.S. and North Korean officials last week as saying the North has told the U.S. it has produced about 66 pounds of the nuclear material, considerably less than U.S. estimates of more than 110 pounds.

South Korean analysts, however, pointed to another issue, saying that North Korea appeared to be feel the U.S. was dragging its feet on a pledge to remove it from a list of terror-sponsoring states.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said North Korea's recent behavior suggests there may be a lull in the denuclearization process for a few months.

"Instead of stressing the North's declaration, the U.S. should show some sincerity over the terrorism list," Yang said.

In early December, South Korea's Song said the U.S. was making preparations to remove Pyongyang from the list if Pyongyang's nuclear declaration was acceptable.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the delay shows again that North Korea will move forward only when it is given promised aid and other concessions.

He said, however, that the denuclearization process "won't be undermined" and the delay "cannot be seen as a collapse of the agreement."

Diplomats had said for weeks that the North would likely miss the year-end deadline for disablement because a key technical step — removing fuel rods from the reactor — could take several months.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Monday that the United States actually slowed down part of the disablement process of a key nuclear reactor to make sure it was done in a safe, secure way.

"This is not something that we blame the North Koreans for," Stanzel said.

[Jerry D]

Did anyone actually believe the little Dictator would ever own up to a deal? NOt I !