U.S. Set to Take a Hard Line in Talks on Korean Arms

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

By Joseph Kahn

New York Times Writer

Optimists, including Chinese, South Korean and Russian diplomats, say the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has long viewed his nuclear program as a bargaining chip to be traded for the right mix of security assurances, diplomatic recognition and aid. But hard-liners in the Bush administration say they believe that Mr. Kim has no intention of giving up weapons of mass destruction. They argue that extended talks would just delay tougher measures to penalize the country or even topple the Communist government.

BEIJING, China -- NYT
North Korea will come under intense diplomatic pressure to scrap its nuclear weapons program on Wednesday as the United States, North Korea and its four neighbors begin unusual six-party negotiations on how to resolve the Korean arms crisis.

The talks, scheduled to take place over three days here in the Chinese capital, are the most concerted diplomatic push on North Korea since President Bush took office. They pose a difficult challenge to the administration as it seeks to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions without directly rewarding it for doing so, which Mr. Bush said would be like succumbing to blackmail.

South Korea, Japan, Russia and China will take part in the negotiations, meeting the Bush administration's precondition that talks must involve the major regional powers.

Diplomats and experts say those four countries are likely to support American demands that North Korea dismantle its arms program and submit to inspections. But North Korean negotiators are known for seeking to exploit differences between the United States and the other countries involved, and the talks are expected to be difficult and prolonged.

The talks come at a sensitive time in Washington, with Bush administration officials sending starkly different signals about their willingness to reach a deal. On the eve of the talks, Jack Pritchard, the administration's special envoy for negotiations with North Korea who had advocated a conciliatory approach, resigned after being criticized by a prominent senator for being out of touch with administration policy.

A senior administration official said today that people who favor a hard-line negotiating stance had prevailed in the debate leading up to the talks. The administration, this official said, has firmly ruled out offering North Korea any concessions until it unilaterally abandons its nuclear program in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible" way.

The task of conducting negotiations without offering incentives will fall to James A. Kelly, an assistant secretary of state. He is expected to outline a multiphase process in which any American concessions would come only at the end, after North Korea admits the full scope of its nuclear activity, halts such activity and readmits inspectors.

But other administration officials have indicated that they would not necessarily oppose South Korea or other regional countries offering economic incentives to North Korea.

On the eve of the discussions, which were arranged after extensive shuttle diplomacy by Beijing's diplomats, Chinese officials called on all sides to come prepared to make concessions. That means ending North Korea's nuclear program but also offering the country a firm security guarantee, they said.
(More: NYTimes.com)
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Dan