You have got to love the charade called the six party talks. The latest charade comes today where news has come out about how peace is just waiting to break out all over the Korean peninsula with the announcement of North Korea’s intention to completely denuclearize:
North Korea is willing to declare and disable all its nuclear programs in the next five or six months, the South Korean chief nuclear negotiator said Wednesday. […]
“Talks on a peace framework for the Korean Peninsula are vital, he added.
Lee hinted that President Roh Moo-hyun could bring up the issue at the inauguration ceremony of the 13th Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification on Thursday. “I expect that President Roh Moo-hyun will make positive remarks on inter-Korean relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the minister said. Asked if the peace framework proposal could come before Aug. 15 Liberation Day, Lee said, “It’s hard to specify the timing. But it’s necessary to discuss at least part of the idea, if not all of it. Officials from Cheong Wa Dae, the Foreign Ministry, the Unification Ministry, and the Defense Ministry are preparing to launch an organization to study and discuss a peace framework.” On Tuesday, he said, “We have to find a way to declare an end to the Korean War.
There is only one problem with this momentous announcement today, no one has bothered to ask North Korea what they plan to denuclearize:
South Korean officials admitted that Pyongyang has not been asked directly to confirm that it also needs to declare its nuclear weapons. North Korea has never acknowledged that nuclear weapons are included in the declaration phase, but the other parties are pounding on that idea, a diplomatic source said yesterday. By not making this point clear, it ensures that the talks will continue. The real substance has not been addressed, only a timeline.
Asked if the North understood that nuclear weapons are included, Christopher Hill, Washington’s chief negotiator, said, We are going to have to keep talking about that. Hill said the issue was very technical and would require extensive clarification. Mentioning explosive devices, bombs in which the fissile material is located, Hill said, that clearly has to be in the declaration.
Earlier, he said, There are two main tasks on the North Korean side, one is to come up with the comprehensive declaration of all nuclear programs and that backs into the issue of the UEP [uranium enrichment program] question so its a very important task. And the second task is the disablement of all nuclear programs.
This is the greatest example so far of what a charade the six party talks process is. How do you declare to the world that North Korea plans to denuclearize if you don’t even bother asking them if they are going to dismantle the nuclear weapons they currently have as well as their uranium enrichment program? This is because this is all a charade to keep the “myth of progress” alive.
Pyongyang may give up their uranium enrichment program for the right price, but it has no intention of giving up their nuclear weapons they currently possess for reasons I have mentioned before and everyone knows it. North Korea wants time to keep perfecting their nuclear and tactical ballistic missile programs while the ruling South Korean government wants to keep their failed Sunshine Policy going in hopes of scoring a second inter-Korean Summit before this year’s presidential elections. On the Chinese side, they just want things on the Korean peninsula to remain quiet until after next year’s Olympic Games and the Russians probably just want to maintain the status quo in order to keep US foreign policy and troops tied down in Korea. The American side just wants North Korea to behave and keep quiet so the Bush Administration can claim credit for a foreign policy victory before the eventual showdown with Iran over their nuclear program.
These realities make pretending “progress” is happening to be in everybody’s interest, well everybody except the Japanese. The Japanese want the North Koreans to account for all the Japanese citizens that have abducted over the years from Japan. North Korea has refused to come clean and the Japanese have been marginalized in these talks by all sides. Thus the Japanee taken measures of their own to punish North Korea.
To keep the “myth of progress” alive expect more and more talks while the North Koreans continue to perfect their nuclear and missile programs. Additionally, expect North Korea to try and use the other nations involved in the talks to pressue Japan to remove their tough penalties against North Korea in order to keep the myth alive. By keeping the myth alive, all sides, except Japan, will get what they wanted out of the negotiations, but the next time North Korea acts up, and mark my words there will be a next time, the payoff for appeasement will be much higher.
