「次の段階」の年内履行可能 米次官補

【ワシントン＝小栗康之】北朝鮮の核問題をめぐる六カ国協議の米首席代表のヒル国務次官補（東アジア・太平洋担当）は二十三日、国務省で記者会見し、「核計画の申告」「核施設の無能力化」など北朝鮮の非核化に向けた「次の段階」を年内に履行することは可能との認識をあらためて強調した。

　次官補は、八月中に行うことにしている朝鮮半島非核化、経済・エネルギー協力などの作業部会での協議を通じて、年内履行に向けた道筋が見えてくるとの認識を表明。無能力化の実現について「北朝鮮がやろうと思えば、何カ月もかかるものではない」と指摘した。

　また、「次の段階」を年内に終えることで、二〇〇八年中の核兵器廃棄や既に北朝鮮が抽出したプルトニウムの処理などの目標達成が可能になるとの見方を示した。

東京新聞:「次の段階」の年内履行可能　米次官補:国際(TOKYO Web)

Something Is About To Happen

July 23, 2007: Starvation deaths in North Korea have returned to 1990s levels. That means over a thousand people a week dying from lack of food. Over a million people died during the 1990s food shortages. This time around, the shortages are caused by government refusal to allow in food that must have its distribution monitored (making it difficult for the government to divert the food to the army or private sale). The government also took its time with the current round of nuclear disarmament talks, delaying shipments of food from South Korea. These have just arrived and are being distributed.



Meanwhile, North Korea is full of rumors that leader Kim Jong Il is very sick, and has just had surgery. Kim Jong Il has not been seen much for months, but that is not unusual. But rumors about his health have been circulating, on and off, for over a year.



North Korean negotiators, as is their custom, are now demanding more. They want light water nuclear electric power reactors, and assurances from the U.S. that there will be no attack on North Korea. South Korea is so confident that North Korea is no longer a military threat (because of the economic crises up there) that they are speeding up the downsizing of the South Korean army.



North Korean tactics have not changed much over the last half century. There is lots of drama, lots of delays, and maximum effort to extort as much as they can in the negotiations. Then the cycle is repeated, endlessly. What has changed is the lack of predictable subsidies from Russia and China. Until the Cold War ended, these subsidies kept North Korea comfortably afloat. But in the early 1990s, those subsidies ended, and starvation and economic collapse ensued. Now the economy has been loosened up, and some people are making money. But many North Koreans are starving, and the government fears collapse, or a revolution. No one in the North Korean government can decide what to do. The North Koreans are trying everything, and not settling on any one strategy. The hard liners still have a police state operating, while the reformers have South Korean firms coming in and opening factories, and there are now free markets, with uncontrolled prices, throughout the country. Corruption is way up, and discipline is falling. Something is about to happen, but no one is quite sure what.





July 15, 2007: North Korea has shut down its nuclear research reactor and allowed UN inspectors to visit and confirm that.

Korea: Something Is About To Happen

谷内外務次官、「北朝鮮に態度変化迫る」

　谷内正太郎外務次官は23日の記者会見で、8月末までの開催が決まった6カ国協議の日朝国交正常化に関する作業部会について「（拉致問題は）解決済みの問題だという北朝鮮の態度を変えるように強く迫ることが大きなテーマの一つだ」と述べた。そのうえで拉致、核、ミサイルの問題を包括的に解決しない限り国交正常化しないとの方針を堅持する考えを改めて強調した。(22:00)

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