North Korea is taking a tough line toward the six-country nuclear disarmament talks, but it has “no immediate potential” to restart its nuclear reactor, the top US negotiator said on Monday.
Diplomat Christopher Hill echoed US President George W. Bush’s concerns about North Korean moves to reactivate the plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon, but dismissed any suggestion that the negotiations were unraveling.
“They’ve been staking out some very tough negotiating positions ... so yes the negotiating process does continue,” Hill told reporters in New York. “Clearly we’re seeing a tough line from them in the last month.”
He said it was “hard to tell” whether reports over the last month of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s poor health were related to the “rather rough and tumble moment” in the talks.
Kim, 66, has not been seen in public since Aug. 14 and he missed a major military parade earlier this month. South Korean intelligence leaks say he suffered a stroke.
Pyongyang confirmed on Friday that it was working to restart the plutonium-producing reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday that North Korea had asked it to remove seals and surveillance equipment from the complex.
Hill declined to comment on the IAEA report, but doubted that North Korea could quickly get the site going again, saying it could take months to reactivate the reprocessing plant and more than a year for the whole reactor complex.
“I don’t think there is any immediate potential for restarting the thing,” he said.
Hill said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “had a wide-ranging good discussion” with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and that she would be meeting other participants in New York from the six-party process.
He said the players in the six-party process had to consult each other about the “best way forward,” adding that talks would take place in New York this week and more talks would take place next week.
Rice was also due to discuss the North Korean issue with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) over dinner on Monday, US officials said.
Bush expressed concern to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Sunday over North Korea’s plans, White House Spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
“The two presidents agreed that they would work hard to convince the North to continue down the path established in the six-party talks toward denuclearization,” Johndroe said.
China yesterday urged “flexibility” in the North Korean nuclear dispute.
China’s response to Pyongyang’s latest moves was characteristically cautious.
“Under the present circumstances, we hope the concerned parties [will] enhance contacts and show flexibility and together make efforts to resolve the salient problems as soon as possible,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) told a regular news conference.
China has hosted the six-way talks since 2003 and generally avoids harsh words against the North. South Korea, the US, Japan and Russia also participate in the stop-start negotiations.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two