Japan Brief/FPCJ, No. 0857
August 29, 2008


North Korea Announces Suspension of Its Disablement of Nuclear Facilities

On August 26 the press spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry made a statement that North Korea had suspended work on the disablement of its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, which it had been conducting on the basis of an agreement in the six-party talks. Furthermore, the statement suggested that if the United States continued to postpone its removal of North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, Pyongyang might take hard-line measures, including the reinstallation of nuclear fuel rods in its nuclear reactor and the reconstruction of the cooling tower that it has destroyed. As a result, the outlook for the six-party talks, which aim to complete the work on the disablement of the nuclear facilities by the end of October, now appears doubtful.

In the statement, North Korea claimed that it had fulfilled its obligations by submitting a declaration of its nuclear programs. At the same time, Pyongyang argued that the failure of the United States to lift its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism is a clear violation of the agreement and that the verification procedures demanded by the United States are the same as the special inspection that caused North Korea to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Pyongyang emphasized that it had been “compelled to take countermeasures in accordance with the principle of action for action.”

In response, US State Department Deputy Press Spokesman Robert Wood on August 26 denounced the statement as a “step backward” and commented, “This certainly is in violation of their commitments to the six-party framework.” Speaking to the press at the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Official Residence) on the same day, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said, “We want North Korea to carry out verification properly toward the abolition of its nuclear programs. We will hold consultations with the United States and others.” Regarding the impact on the reinvestigation of the abduction issue, which Japan and North Korea have agreed to conduct, Prime Minister Fukuda stated, “I don’t know what the impact will be, but I hope that the reinvestigation goes ahead steadily.”

Newspaper Editorials Express Discontent with North Korea
On August 27 and 28 Japan’s main newspapers carried editorials on North Korea’s statement that it had unilaterally halted work on the disablement of its nuclear facilities. The general tone of these editorials was that North Korea’s aim was to press the United States to remove Pyongyang from its list of state sponsors of terrorism as soon as possible and that using threats was a familiar ploy of Pyongyang.

The Yomiuri Shimbun editorial (August 28), headlined “Don’t be deceived by N. Korea’s tactics,” remarked, “North Korea’s tactic of trying to intimidate opponents and win concessions from them by creating a crisis is nothing new. . . . North Korea’s action is irresponsible and once again turns back the process of the six-party talks over the abandonment of its nuclear programs. North Korea should unconditionally resume its disablement work.” It also noted, “If North Korea continues to sit on its hands regarding disablement work, the deadline might be further put off. But Pyongyang has gone a step further, saying it would consider restoring its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon to their original state. These moves apparently are aimed at shaking up the administration of US President George W. Bush, whose term ends in less than five months, and pressing it hard for concessions. The Bush administration must not make easy concessions in the hope of accomplishing something before Bush’s term is up. The United States should be firm in negotiating with North Korea and urge it to accept strict verification procedures.”

Under the headline “Pyongyang’s bombshell announcement: North Korea has no choice but to submit to verification,” the Asahi Shimbun editorial (August 27) described North Korea’s move as “the latest display of its habitual brinkmanship” and “an unreasonable, self-serving excuse.” It noted, “. . . if this [the Bush administration’s attempt to forge an agreement] made Pyongyang underestimate Washington and believe it could get away with a sloppy declaration, it made a big mistake.” The Asahi went on, “The six-party framework is meant to bring many benefits to North Korea, including normalization of ties with Japan and the United States and economic and energy assistance. It could not be in North Korea’s interest to ruin this framework. Tuesday’s statement did not touch on the validity of the October agreement. This raises the possibility that the statement was a ploy by North Korea to get its perceived part of the bargain at all costs. But if that is what Pyongyang wishes, there is no choice but to submit to verification. The five negotiating partners, including Japan and especially China, which has a strong influence on North Korea, must keep reminding Pyongyang of this fact firmly and patiently.”

The Mainichi Shimbun editorial (August 28), titled “Don’t stop the move toward denuclearization,” noted that North Korea’s statement that the United States has “clearly violated the agreement” is “an absurd argument.” It went on, “Elimination of the threat is impossible without strict verification. The US State Department was quite right when it countered that verification is an agreement of the six-party talks and it is North Korea that has violated that agreement. However, if the confrontation between the United States and North Korea becomes prolonged, we cannot hope for any major progress toward denuclearization under the Bush administration, which ends next January. It is also uncertain what the policy of the next US administration toward North Korea will be. If the present situation becomes deadlocked and the nuclear bombs and nuclear weapon facilities that North Korea is thought to possess are left almost untouched, needless to say, that would be a big blow for Japan. The important thing is not to stop the move toward denuclearization.”

Under the headline “North Korea’s threat will not work,” The Nikkei editorial (August 28) commented, “When it is not satisfied, North Korea’s standard practice is to threaten and rattle the international community and try to obtain concessions from the other side.” It stressed, “As long as North Korea does not accept strict verification of its nuclear programs, naturally the United States will put off its delisting. The United States should not be ruffled by Pyongyang’s saber-rattling and should not easily make concessions. While considering the freezing of economic and energy assistance to North Korea, related countries should cooperate and apply pressure so that Pyongyang accepts verification. We are also worried about the prospects for the reinvestigation of abduction victims. In the sense also of urging early settlement of the abduction issue, it is necessary for the Japanese government to strengthen collaboration with related countries and to teach North Korea that the use of threats, its standard ploy, will not work.”

The Sankei Shimbun editorial (August 28), headlined “The United States must not compromise on verification procedures,” noted, “The North’s excuse is clearly unreasonable. . . . It is only natural to entrust the contents of a declaration that was incomplete from the start to fair verification. Japan, South Korea, China, and others are calling for verification, so the US response is not mistaken. Moreover, the disablement of nuclear facilities is a separate matter from verification of the nuclear declaration.” It went on, “The statement does not mention anything about scrapping the six-party agreement or ending the talks. No doubt North Korea badly wants to be taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism. There is also a possibility that by making tough demands, North Korea aims to get concessions from the United States and substantially scale down the verification procedures.” The Sankei added, “There is a possibility that North Korea will move to rattle Japan over the reinvestigation of the abduction issue, too. In order not to be trapped by such a ploy, it is necessary for Japan and the United States to unite to make North Korea respect the agreement. In particular, the verification of its nuclear programs is important. We hope that the United States will definitely not compromise and will stick to the principles.”

(Copyright 2008 Foreign Press Center / Japan)