北朝鮮核計画「早期に完全申告を」・米国務省報道官が強調

　【ワシントン＝丸谷浩史】米国務省のマコーマック報道官は4日の記者会見で、北朝鮮外務省が核計画申告の内容を米国に通報したと発表したことについて「北朝鮮はまだ最終的な申告をしていない。できる限り早期の完全な申告を望んでいる」と強調した。核問題を巡る6カ国協議首席代表のヒル国務次官補が北朝鮮側と申告内容について話し合ったが「最終形には至っていない」とも指摘した。
　ヒル次官補も同日、日中韓など関係国訪問に先立ち記者団に「北朝鮮は完全かつ正確な申告を行わなければならないが、その準備がまだできていない」と説明。国務省としては、北朝鮮側がこれまでの協議で提示した申告内容を不十分とみていることを明らかにした。
　一方でマコーマック報道官は「北朝鮮の声明は、なお6カ国協議の合意に沿って、協議を前進させようとする意思の表れでもある」と、寧辺（ニョンビョン）にある核施設無能力化の作業が進んでいることなども挙げて、北朝鮮側と協議を続ける考えを示した。(11:02)

/nNIKKEI NET（日経ネット）：国際ニュース－アメリカ、ＥＵ、アジアなど海外ニュースを速報

U.S. 'skeptical' of N. Korea vow

By Jon Ward
January 3, 2008

he White House yesterday said that North Korea's delays in detailing its nuclear-weapons program have made the U.S. skeptical of Pyongyang's pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.

North Korea agreed in October to declare its full range of nuclear activities and weapons by Dec. 31, but has yet to make any announcement.

"They were a part of the agreement that established this deadline, and we don't have reason to believe that they won't, but we are skeptical, given the length of time that it's taken," said White House press secretary Dana Perino, in a morning briefing.

Later in the day, Mrs. Perino said that "as we've dealt with North Korea over the past several years, it is only appropriate that we would be skeptical."

Former Bush administration official John R. Bolton, who headed the State Department's counterproliferation office in President Bush's first term, called Mrs. Perino's comments "a shift, and a welcome one" in the White House position toward North Korea.

Mr. Bolton has been critical of the agreement reached last February, and expanded upon in October, for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il to give up his nuclear-weapons program.

"I have faith in the North Koreans that they're going to do what they always do," Mr. Bolton said yesterday, referring to several failed deals in the past. "I don't think there's any chance they're ever going to give up their nuclear weapons."

The State Department, however, reacted positively yesterday to North Korea's failure to meet the deadline agreed to in talks with the U.S. and four other countries ― South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the disarmament process is still "trending in the right direction," and said it is understandable that the North Koreans missed the Dec. 31 deadline because the decision to disarm is "groundbreaking."

"Everybody has a healthy appreciation for the pace at which this process moves," Mr. McCormack said. "Sometimes it moves according to schedule, sometimes it moves in what some might consider a tectonic or glacial fashion, but it does move forward. But the fact that it doesn't progress at the pace that we would perhaps desire doesn't mean that people aren't working hard to ... try to make it work."

Mr. Bolton said the State Department is "in deal-saving mode."

But the Bush administration, despite its rhetoric yesterday, might also be poised to accept an imperfect outcome, said Jon Wolfsthal, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"They're walking a fine line. They want to avoid a crisis with North Korea," Mr. Wolfsthal said. "There's some concern that because they want to keep this on the back burner they might be willing to accept less than 100 percent to keep the process going on."

Mr. Wolfsthal said that the administration has focused most on political reconciliation in Iraq and has pushed the North Korean nuclear program to the second tier.

The North Koreans have begun to receive food and oil aid as they have begun the disarmament process, but they are pressing for removal from the U.S. list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

U.S. 'skeptical' of N. Korea vow?-?-?The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

「山崎拓の時々刻々」２００８年１月１日 第１２７号

　福田政権スタート以来、私は自民党外交調査会長を務めていますが、このたび当調査会に『朝鮮半島問題小委員会』を設置しました。核の放棄・ミサイルの凍結及び拉致問題の解決といったいわゆる日朝国交正常化の前提となる問題の解決を促し、福田内閣をバックアップしようという考えです。
　小泉政権下の２００２年９月１７日、当時の小泉総理の電撃的訪朝により金正日国防委員長との間でいわゆる日朝平壌宣言が発出されました。北朝鮮は初めて拉致事件の犯行を認め、５人の生存者の帰国を実現しました。その１年８ヶ月後、２００４年５月に小泉総理が再訪朝し、その家族７人の帰国も実現しました。この時は、その直前に私は平沢勝栄代議士と共に中国の大連市で北朝鮮の鄭泰和（チョン・テファ）日本担当大使らと会談し、小泉再訪朝の道筋をつけました。しかし拉致問題のみならず米・中・露・韓・日５カ国と北朝鮮との六者協議の場で２００３年８月以来続けられている“朝鮮半島の非核化”の目標も未だ到達しておりません。

　この際、敢えて申し上げますが米国ブッシュ政権最後の一年間である本年こそ、いわゆる北朝鮮問題の決着をつけなければなりません。環境問題をメーンテーマとする洞爺湖サミットも大切ですが、アジア外交の転換を主唱する福田総理としては小泉内閣で官房長官の立場で日朝国交正常化を目指されたことを踏まえて、この際外交路線を思い切って圧力一辺倒から対話重視路線に転換しかなりの進展を見つつある六者協議の中でも主体的な役割を果すと共に、米国の圧力のみをあてにせず日朝直接対話によって、拉致問題を解決すべきです。
　私も過去の訪朝経験と北朝鮮人脈を活かして、外交交渉の後押しのため精力的に働く決意です。

/ntaku.net | 山崎拓の主張