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Blow to Six-Party Talks Pyongyang-Washington Invective Not Constructive | |||
The six-party nuclear negotiations have been overshadowed by a verbal war between the United States and North Korea, following U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow's description of Pyongyang as a criminal regime on Tuesday for committing illegal activities such as money laundering and counterfeiting. On Saturday, the North lashed out against Vershbow's labeling, saying his charges are fabricated. The communist country said that the resumption of the six-party talks would depend on the U.S. attitude. The North accused the Bush administration of trying to invalidate the Sept. 19 agreement reached in the fourth round of the dialogue, paving the way for a peace resolution to the three-year nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and Washington. The agreement makes it obligatory for the North to abandon all nuclear activities, return to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and abide by the United Nations' nuclear safeguard regime in exchange for political and economic benefits. On Friday, the North denounced Vershbow's verbal attack as a U.S. declaration of war against it and promised retaliation. Vershbow's criticism of the Kim Jong-il regime also perplexed Seoul which has virtually kept silent about the human rights situation in the North and Pyongyang's illicit activities in the global community in consideration of the six-party talks and inter-Korean relations. The U.S. envoy's denunciation followed the recent revelation that George W. Bush called Kim Jong-il a tyrant in his meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Pusan last month in connection with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. President Bush's invective and that of other U.S. officials will seriously impede progress in the six-party negotiations, which have been adjourned since early last month, a few days after the start of the fifth round because of the APEC conference. To make matters worse, the fifth round failed to fix a date for resuming the dialogue because the North took exception to Washington's financial sanctions against it in retaliation for Pyongyang's alleged spread of counterfeit U.S. dollars and deals in weapons of mass destruction. Before Vershbow's attack, the North threatened that it would not take part in the six-party nuclear negotiations unless the U.S. lifts its financial strictures against Pyongyang. Even though the North deserves denunciation for the harsh suppression of its people and its illegal activities abroad, Washington needs to restrain itself from provoking the North as much as possible for the sake of a successful conclusion of the six-party talks, thereby restoring peace |