Uranium Program is Eyed as US-North Korea Talks Continue

Posted October 25th, 2011 at 5:35 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

The United States and North Korea sit down for a second day of nuclear talks in Geneva Tuesday with attention focusing on Pyongyang's recently revealed uranium enrichment program.

U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth was hopeful after Monday's first round of talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan. He said the talks on terms for a resumption of international negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs were “moving in a positive direction” but there were still differences to resolve.

One of those issues is likely to be North Korea's sophisticated uranium enrichment program, which was revealed when officials showed it to an American nuclear scientist last year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese official Monday he wants the six-party talks to resume on the basis of a six-part agreement completed in 2005. But the other participants were unaware of the uranium program at that time.

The program is of deep concern in Seoul, where a South Korean official said the Geneva talks are being closely monitored.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said South Korea is keeping in constant contact with both sides to the talks.

Another South Korean official spoke to the Yonhap news agency on the basis of anonymity. He said it is essential that North Korea freeze the nuclear program and permit international inspectors into the facility before the six-party talks can resume.

North Korea has been calling for the talks to resume without conditions. But according to Chinese media, Kim Jong Il told Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Monday that the talks should resume on the basis of an agreement reached in 2005.

The so-called September 19 agreement calls for complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and a U.S. promise not to attack North Korea. The North would also receive diplomatic and economic benefits, including the provision of electric power from South Korea.

Despite the reported progress, some South Korean residents say they do not trust anything that comes out of the Geneva talks.

Seoul resident Yoo Sung-jin said if North Korea was sincere, it would be talking to the South Korean government, not the United States.