Pyongyang: No nuclear freeze without US compensation

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The latest round of six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea's atomic program has ended in little more than another standstill, with a pledge "to resolve the crisis as soon as possible" and an agreement to meet again before September. North Korea says it is willing to freeze its nuclear weapons programme, only in exchange for US compensation. Washington insists Pyongyang disclose its uranium enrichment programme used for making bombs.

"There are serious differences between the two sides over the uranium enrichment programme," said China's chief negotiator, Wang Yi, commenting that the biggest breach in the meeting of the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the United States and China,  was between the US and North Korea.

"When it comes to our offer to freeze, the subject includes all nuclear weapons-related facilities and the outcome of reprocessing," said North Korean official Hyum Hak-dong.

One of the major facilities he referred to was the Yongbyon atomic plant, north of Pyongyang, which was reactivated in late 2002 at the onset of the crisis.  "We are not only freezing those facilities, but also dismantling them as conditions are met. During the freezing, we will no longer build, transfer and test nuclear weapons." He demanded that the United States offer compensation in exchange for freezing the programmes in a "transparent manner".

Washington has ruled out any compensation plan until North Korea's nuclear weapons are completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantled.

North Korea also rejected proposals by the U.S. and Japan to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to inspect its nuclear facilities for verification.

"North Korea mainly wants to resolve things that can be seen with the eyes, like the Yongbyon plant, while the United States is more interested in things such as the north's uranium programme. So there is still a gap," said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at RadioPress News Agency in Tokyo.  (J.C.)

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