As was posted previously, it appears that the 6 Party Talks are set to resume February 8th. In response to a point made below regarding the relative lack of coverage of the event, one reason for this appears to be that China, the host, has yet to make an official announcement. This has at least deterred the U.S. from officially announcing the next round of the talks. For more, see the link below...
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701300033.html
Also, it appears that a partial lifting on the freeze on assets at Banco Delta Asia - the purported reason for North Korea boycotting the talks to begin with, and subsequently testing a bomb last fall - may be in the works as part of the deal to achieve NK's disarmament/dismantlement. Talks are occurring between U.S. and NK officials in Beijing today, outside of the 6PT forum. It appears to me that we're seeing some quiet bilateral meetings between Washington and Pyongyang. With any luck, these developments will yield some progress in denuclearization discussions.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701300010.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
China seems to have announced it just in the past few hours. I can't find it in English yet, but Renmin Wang, an official government news site, has an article announcing the talks will resume 8 February in Beijing:
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/1029/5349218.html
I'm still confused why the recent meetings with us and the DPRK took place in Berlin. My guess is China's not too happy Germany stole some of their thunder (or seemed to threaten to). Will /all/ of the official talks always take place in China?
Althought I'm not quite sure myself as to how Berlin ended up being the location for the recent talks, it is most likely that China will continue being the location for further talks regarding North Korea. The convenience of its location and China's view of its role in the negotiation process will ensure that. Also, the DPRK will probably agree only to China, as China is its only "ally" so to speak in the region.
I found it interesting that while there are a lot of proponents for direct US-DPRK talks (at least in the US), an editorial in the Chosun Ilbo today by the director of the Institute for Security and Strategy argued against it, saying that it was putting the ROK in a dangerous position. What do you guys think?
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200701/200701310029.html
I myself think that direct US-DPRK talks are good signs of progress and that it shouldn't be something to be worried about. However, since I'm not a security studies major, I could be wrong.
One of the possible reasons for using Germany (and I haven't seen this anywhere, it's just speculation) is that it is neutral territory, and can be the site of unofficial talks. Holding them in China would make them official, perhaps? I just know, historically, secret talks have often been held in European countries, so that may have something to do with it.
In terms of the reason why it might be bad for ROK (I can't get the link to function, so I might have to search out that article through the website) would be that it fears its point of view being ignored without its input. I'm not sure the ROK government trusts the US government to help it out.
Post a Comment