Top nuclear negotiators from North Korea and the United States appear set to meet this week in Singapore, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 25).
(Dec. 1) -
North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan is expected to meet his U.S. counterpart this week in Singapore (Claro Cortes/Getty Images).
A source at the North Korean Embassy in Singapore told the Yonhap News Agency that Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan would travel to the island nation. A previous Yonhap report indicated that Kim planned talks with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill on Thursday in Singapore.
Hill is also set to meet with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea on Wednesday in Tokyo, according to reports.
The next full round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program -- which involve China, Japan, Russia, the United States and both Koreas -- is expected to begin Dec. 8 in Beijing, according to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Envoys are set to consider a formal document outlining verification terms of Pyongyang's nuclear activities under the ongoing denuclearization process. North Korea has reportedly objected to a written agreement and has denied that it agreed in October to allow collection of nuclear samples as part of verification (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Dec. 1).
"The focus on that [Dec. 8] meeting will be for the six parties to sign on to the verification protocol that has been initialed by the United States and North Korea on behalf of the parties," Rice told reporters last week.
"The disabling has resumed, and it needs to continue to conclusion. But this verification protocol is now the key," she added. "There is no other purpose for the meeting. And we have a document, we also have a number of assurances and a number of understandings that now will need to be codified by the six parties" (Agence France-Presse II/ChannelNewsAsia, Nov. 27).
The State Department is standing firm on its demand for nuclear sampling and a written verification plan, Voice of America reported Friday.
"Our position is that, at the six-party heads of delegation meeting, verification protocols will be 'six-party-ized,' if I can use a bad verb. And that, at that time, we'll have everything that was included in writing and in understanding formally down on paper," said State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid (David Gollust, Voice of America, Nov. 28).
Meanwhile, North Korea today issued additional photographs apparently intended to prove that leader Kim Jong Il is in good health, the Associated Press reported. In the images, Kim is seen inspecting a military unit.
Kim is believed to have suffered at least one stroke since August and to have undergone brain surgery.
His health troubles seemingly coincided with Pyongyang's temporary reversal in August of disablement of facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. North Korea has since resumed denuclearization activities (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Dec. 1).