collaboration against the regime in Pyongyang could lead to nuclear conflict, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 10).
In typically bombastic rhetoric, Pyongyang's state-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper characterized the trilateral cooperation as "nothing but treachery escalating the tension between the North and the South and brining the dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over the Korean Peninsula."
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have increased their cooperation on the North Korean nuclear impasse amid a series of provocations by the Stalinist state this year. Pyongyang's actions include the shelling last month of an inhabited South Korean island and the calculated unveiling of an advanced uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The three nations have pledged not to resume paralyzed six-nation talks aimed at North Korean denuclearization until Pyongyang has taken demonstrable steps toward nuclear disarmament. They have also rejected a Chinese proposal to participate in emergency talks intended to ease escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea today began five days of artillery drills at 27 locations. Seoul has responded to the attack on Yeonpyeong Island by conducting joint sea maneuvers with the U.S. and Japanese militaries and amending its defense policy to allow for a robust punitive response to any future North Korean assaults.
A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said this week's maneuvers would not take place close to a contested maritime boundary line near the shelled island (Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Dec. 13).
North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chin traveled to Russia on Saturday, one day after he reaffirmed his government's nuclear buildup as a necessary deterrent to the South Korean-U.S. military alliance, Agence France-Presse reported.
Russia, while condemning Pyongyang's assault of Yeonpyeong Island, has said it would participate in crisis six-party talks sought by Beijing.
"We need to think about creating conditions to restart talks between the six parties," Moscow's No. 2 nuclear envoy, Grigory Logvinov, said to Interfax on Friday.
Pak said his government remains willing take part in negotiations.
"Even in the atmosphere of the escalated situation, we have expressed support of resuming the six-party negotiation process," Pak said.
China's top foreign policy official, Dai Bingguo, met with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last week; the two men were said to have reached a "consensus" on the Korean Peninsula crisis. Beijing has updated Seoul on Dai's talk with Kim, a South Korean official said to the Yonhap News Agency.
"I can't speak in detail, but regarding North Korea's position, it appears that there is little difference in the position that it has been sticking to," the unidentified source said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is set to travel to China this week with a delegation of senior officials intent on pressuring Beijing to take stronger action on North Korea.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced that its senior representative to the six-party talks, Wi Sung-lac, would travel to Russia for discussions with Moscow's envoy to the talks, Alexei Borodavkin, on the attack on Yeonpyeong Island and North Korea's uranium enrichment progress.
North Korea has declared its new uranium plant is intended to prepare material for use in a yet-unfinished light-water reactor. This assertion is doubted in Washington. Uranium enrichment can produce fissile material for a warhead as well as fuel for power generation.
In Beijing, Japanese nuclear envoy Akitaka Saiki met with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, on Saturday, Kyodo News reported. Wu reaffirmed his government's view that crisis six-party talks would lower inter-Korean tensions (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 11).
Saiki told journalists that Wu gave him a "detailed" update on Dai's meeting with the North Korean leader, though he would not provide specifics about the meeting or what kind of "important consensus" was reached, Kyodo reported.
Saiki reiterated the stance of Japan, South Korea and the United States that Pyongyang has to pursue "responsible action based on the rules of the international community" before six-nation negotiations can resume. He also called for China to take a harsher stance on North Korea, saying "Japan is not interested in talks for the sake of talks" (Kyodo News/Mainichi Daily News, Dec. 12).
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi yesterday said his government would "continue to make patient efforts to persuade the parties to engage in consultations," Reuters reported.
"While the talks have yet to be resumed, we think it is the proper time for emergency consultations between the heads of the delegations of the six parties,"Yang told the Xinhua News Agency (Ben Blanchard, Reuters, Dec. 12).
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