U.S. visitors optimistic about N. Korea
The delegation finds Pyongyang open to discussions about shutting down its nuclear facilities./n U.S. visitors optimistic about N. Korea - Los Angeles Times
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2008
BEIJING -- The former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory said Saturday that North Korea is serious about denuclearizing and is willing to contemplate a program such as that used to help former Soviet republics destroy their nuclear weapons.
"This is a big deal," said Siegfried Hecker, referring to North Korea's accomplishments so far in shutting down its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang.
Hecker, a professor at Stanford University, had returned earlier in the day from a four-day trip to North Korea, where he said he enjoyed "remarkable access" to North Korea's nuclear facilities.
Hecker compared the high-security compound he visited in North Korea to the national security research institution in Los Alamos, N.M. He said he observed an exceptional working relationship between North Korean technicians and U.S. teams supervising the dismantling of a nuclear reactor, a factory to make nuclear fuel rods and a reprocessing plant, which was used to make weapons-grade plutonium.
"My feeling coming away from this visit is that the level of cooperation is good, better than I've seen in the 10 years I've been visiting the facility," said Joel Wit, a former State Department official who traveled with Hecker.
The men acknowledged that serious political problems remain. North Korean officials they met in Pyongyang, the capital, said they would not complete the dismantlement of Yongbyon until the U.S. completes the delivery of promised heavy-fuel oil and, more important, removes North Korea from an official list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The Bush administration has said it is prepared to remove North Korea from the list, but only when it completes its end of the bargain.
"You have a problem about who goes first. At this point, that's unresolved," Hecker said.
Hecker and Wit, along with a Senate aide, traveled to North Korea in an unofficial capacity. Their discussions were devoted mostly to the mechanisms for permanently closing North Korea's nuclear facilities and finding new jobs for the thousands of people employed in the nuclear industry.
They talked with the North Koreans about a program launched in 1991 under which the United States has spent about $400 million annually helping Russia and other former Soviet republics destroy weapons.
Developed in the 1960s, the Yongbyon facility is similar to the Soviet nuclear compounds.
"It is essentially a small city with apartment buildings, schools, stores," Wit said.
Both men said that North Korea remained interested in civilian use of nuclear power and probably would press again for foreign assistance building a light-water nuclear reactor. A deal was signed in 1994 for the United States to help build such a reactor, but the agreement collapsed.
中国が「６か国」再開へ北を説得…「米政権交代なら難しく」
【北京＝佐伯聡士】先月末に北朝鮮を訪問した中国共産党の王家瑞・対外連絡部長が金正日総書記との会談で、核問題をめぐる６か国協議の早期再開に向けて働きかけた具体的な説得内容が分かった。外交筋が１６日明らかにした。/n中国が「６か国」再開へ北を説得…「米政権交代なら難しく」 : 国際 : YOMIURI ONLINE（読売新聞）
中国は、今秋の米大統領選で民主党政権が誕生すれば、同協議の進展が困難になるとして、ブッシュ大統領の在任期間中に早期再開に応じるよう迫っていた。
同筋によると、金総書記は会談で、米国が北朝鮮のシリアへの核拡散疑惑を問題にしている点に言及し、「これでは信頼関係が構築できない」などと語り、強い不満を表明。これに対し王部長は、「今秋の米大統領選で民主党政権が誕生する可能性が高い」と説明し、「そうなれば担当者も皆交代し、６か国協議を進めるのが難しくなる」とし、早期再開を促した。金総書記も「その通りだ」と応じ、同意を示したという。
一方、「３月」とも伝えられている金総書記の訪中について、王部長が「都合の良い時期に訪中してほしい」と改めて招請したところ、会談に同席した姜錫柱(カンソクチュ)・第１外務次官は、理由を明らかにせずに、「訪中は当面ないだろう」と語ったという。
新華社通信は先に、金総書記が「協議を引き続き推進し、合意事項を履行する立場に変化はない」と語り、６か国協議に前向きな姿勢を表明したと報じていたが、具体的なやり取りが明らかになったのは初めて。
（2008年2月17日03時06分 読売新聞）
North Korea's Kim Jong-Il gives shoes
Last Updated: 11:21pm GMT 16/02/2008/n
North Korea celebrated the 66th birthday yesterday of its leader, Kim Jong-Il, with rallies, flower shows and an appeal to its impoverished people to unite behind the diminutive strongman.
Streets were festooned with banners and citizens enjoyed special rations of sweets and shoes during the two-day holiday.
Some showed their reverence by organising exhibitions of "kimjongilia", a hybrid begonia named after the reclusive leader.
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The celebrations came as negotiations over the north's nuclear plans reached deadlock, with Washington accusing Pyongyang of failing to list all its nuclear programmes under a recent disarmament agreement.
North Korea's Kim Jong-Il gives shoes - Telegraph