29 September 2008 : Korea Herald
By Kim Ji-hyun
The six-party talks aimed at North Korea's denuclearization should be put on hold until Pyongyang reaffirms its commitment not to test nuclear weapons or export nuclear technology, an American expert said yesterday.
The pause would give the United States and its five partners an opportunity to formulate new strategies to eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons capability, said Robert Einhorn, a senior advisor at the Washington-based Center for Security and International Studies, at a security forum hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
Experts gathered in Seoul to map out their version of how to proceed in the six-party talks, which have once again run aground because of the North's brinkmanship.
Michael Green, another CSIS senior advisor and former senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, predicted that it would be the last straw for Washington if Pyongyang restarts its nuclear program by reactivating the Yongbyon facilities.
Although the United States and its five partners - the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia - are unlikely to cancel the promised energy and humanitarian aid, the United States could call for United Nations meetings regarding sanctions, and also for the Proliferation Security Initiative, Green said before his presentation at the forum.
Einhorn said that the six parties need to decide on a "Plan B outlining what North Korea should expect if it rejects a reasonable offer."
The plan could include financial pressure resembling the Banco Delta Asia case, he said.
"The North hopes it can get away with limiting (but not eliminating) its nuclear capability, in exchange for economic and security benefits," Einhorn said. "The five partners must make clear that they will never accommodate themselves to a nuclear-armed North Korea, and that if Pyongyang insists on retaining its nuclear option, it will face isolation and unrelenting, regime-crippling pressures."
The four-day forum on peninsular and regional security issues comes amid conflicting views on how the six nations should respond to the latest North Korean threats to reverse the nuclear disablement process.
Pyongyang recently barred inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to its plutonium reprocessing plant in Yongbyon. This suggests that the regime is attempting to restart its nuclear programs.
The North's actions were in response to Washington's refusal to de-list the North as a state sponsor of terrorism because of Pyongyang's refusal to agree to a verification protocol regarding its nuclear facilities.
Washington indicated on Thursday that it has been using all means available to reverse North Korea's attempts to reactivate its nuclear facilities.
"We're trying to use all points of leverage here and are encouraging the other members to use all the leverage that they have to get North Korea to reverse this, I guess, micro-trend that we've seen evolve over the past several weeks," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a daily press briefing.
The South Korean government said it also hopes that the latest conflict will be resolved within the six-party framework.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said yesterday that he hopes last week's proposal from the North for working-level military talks will help improve inter-Korean relations, which have been frozen following a series of disputes after President Lee Myung-bak's inauguration in February.
They would be the first such talks under the Lee government.
The Lee administration has received both praise and criticism for pursuing a North Korea policy which conditions aid and cooperation on denuclearization.
While a post-multiparty security regime needs to be discussed, experts mostly agree that the regional security priority is North Korea's denuclearization.
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