 | | 02-13-2007, 09:26 PM |
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| North Korea negotiations reach agreement on nukes
Quote:
Bush hails North Korea deal as 'best opportunity'
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 1:00 PM ET
CBC News
North Korea agreed Tuesday to abandon its nuclear weapons program, following arduous talks with five other countries that could see the Communist state soon drop from the U.S. list of "axis of evil" countries.
In a statement Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush hailed the landmark agreement as "the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programs."
"They [the agreements] reflect the common commitment of the participants to a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons," Bush said.
At a news conference earlier Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed cautious optimism that the agreement was "a promising step in the right direction."
However, she added, "I will not take it as a complete sign until we see that disablement."
Lead U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said Washington was satisfied with the agreement on initial steps for North Korea to disarm, but called it just the start of the process.
"Obviously we have a long way to go, but we're very pleased with this agreement," Hill told reporters Tuesday. "It's a very solid step forward."
Making sure North Korea declares all of its nuclear facilities and shuts them down is likely to prove difficult, nuclear experts have said. In a sign of possible tensions to come, North Korean state media said the pact required only a "temporary suspension" of the country's nuclear facilities, as opposed to what Rice hoped for — "true denuclearization."
Rice made the distinction between permanently sealing all nuclear facilities and "this first phase, really to shut [the main nuclear reactor] down."
Under the agreement, Pyongyang would phase in full nuclear disarmament in exchange for one million tons (about 907,000 tonnes) of oil a year — half the amount it initially asked for — from neighbouring countries.
The deal requires North Korea to first shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days, then submit to international atomic inspections to ensure all related facilities have been sealed.
For the first time in more than three years of six-party negotiations, the deal marks a concrete step toward disarmament. It is also a step forward for North Korea's pursuit of normalized relations with the U.S. and Japan, both longtime foes.
In a gesture meant to signify a new era of co-operation, Washington has apparently also promised to strike North Korea from a list of regimes it has accused of sponsoring terrorism, CBC News reported. The so-called "axis of evil," defined in a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush, included Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
As hopes for a deal with North Korea began wilting Monday — the last day of negotiations in Beijing — envoys from Japan, Russia, the two Koreas, China and the U.S. scrambled to extend the talks.
Nearing the end of a marathon 16-hour session Tuesday, the deal was read aloud to all delegates in the conference room at a Beijing state guesthouse. When Chinese envoy Wu Dawei asked whether there were any objections and none were made, all the officials stood and applauded.
Along with beginning the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state, the U.S. will end trade sanctions imposed on Pyongyang after it tested a nuclear weapon in October. Hill said Tuesday the U.S. has agreed to resolve the issue of frozen North Korean bank accounts in Macau within 30 days.
Still, the deal drew strong criticism from John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world: 'If we hold out long enough, wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded,' " he said on CNN, urging Bush to reject the deal.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo that Japan would not join in giving aid to North Korea until it addresses the issue of the 1977-1983 abductions of at least 13 Japanese citizens. The North Korean government officially admitted to abducting 13 Japanese, but Japan claims at least 16 citizens were taken.
Further meetings and perhaps months of negotiations remain to iron out the details.
With files from the Associated Press | Source - CBC
Let's hope this has a real impact!  __________________ (i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
e. e. cummings - somewhere i have never traveled
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