Six Nations Involved in North Korea Talks to Meet in Japan

04/04/2006
Anthony Faiola, Washington Post

TOKYO -- Top officials from the six nations engaged in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks will converge in Tokyo next week for a private sector conference, fueling hopes of sideline meetings here that could help jump start the long-stalled negotiations.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington's chief negotiator on the North Korean nuclear issue, is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Monday to meet with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea, U.S. officials said. During his three-day visit, Hill will attend a conference of the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue at which top negotiators from the other nations involved in the six-party talks -- China, Russia and North Korea -- also will be present.

It will mark the first time leading delegates from all six nations will be at the same forum since the last round of talks ended in Beijing last November. North Korea has resisted diplomatic efforts to return to the negotiating table, citing a global campaign by the U.S. Treasury Department to stem Pyongyang's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering operations.

Asian and U.S. diplomats said it was too early to tell if any sideline talks with the North Koreans would take place. Michael Boyle, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, confirmed that representatives from the six nations would be at the conference, but said no meeting between Hill and a visiting North Korean official have been prearranged. "They will be at the same conference," Boyle said. "That's all we can say."

The Japanese and South Koreans expressed similar reservations. "We cannot comment on the prospects of private sideline meetings that may or may not happen," said a South Korean government official familiar with the issue.

But the possibility of renewed contact between the six parties next week nevertheless represents the brightest prospect yet for renewed dialogue in the effort to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

Although some analyst have suggested that the North Koreans may try to stall for months -- or even years -- others believe that a U.S. initiative launched last year to root out the Pyongyang government's illicit activities has been highly effective in putting new pressure on the North Koreans.

The Treasury Department has forced U.S. banks to severe ties with a bank in Macau allegedly tied to illicit North Korean funds -- a move that has led many banks around the world to curtail dealings with North Korea to avoid similar action. In a rare meeting last month in New York with U.S. officials, North Korean representatives demanded that the United States halt what they described as "financial sanctions" before they would return to the bargaining table.

Diplomats said North Korea is dispatching Jong Thae Yang, a high ranking Foreign Ministry official in its U.S. affairs division, to the Tokyo conference. The so-called "track 2" meeting sponsored by the University of California's Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation is bringing together top officials and academics from across the region.

The conference comes at a time when Japan is taking bolder steps of its own to pressure North Korea. Japanese politicians have made progress on a bill threatening sanctions against North Korea if it does not negotiate in good faith on the nuclear issue as well as a bilateral dispute over Japanese citizens abducted by the North Koreans for use in spy training camps during the 1970s and 1980s.

On Tuesday, Japan also added 20 North Korean businesses and institutions to an export restriction list aimed at preventing them from obtaining materials and technology that could be applied for military use.