Top nuclear envoys from North Korea and the United States held talks in Geneva on March 13 and 14 to resolve the nuclear impasse. The meeting started amid high expectations, because it was reportedly arranged at the request of Kim Kye-kwan, North Korea’s vice foreign minister and chief negotiator at the six-party nuclear talks, who missed a meeting in Beijing last month. Here’s Professor Kim Young-hyun from Dongguk University explaining the backdrop for the recent Geneva talks. 

North Korea’s second denuclearization step and corresponding measures should have been completed by the end of last year. It’s already been over ten weeks since the North missed the deadline, but little progress has been made so far. Both North Korea and the U.S. are willing to break the nuclear deadlock, which comprised the major background for the Geneva meeting last week. In fact, Pyongyang seeks to find an answer to the nuclear issue before President Bush’s term ends. If the two sides can’t make any progress in their nuclear standoff during the first half of this year, bilateral negotiations will likely resume in the second half of next year at the earliest. The prolonged nuclear stalemate will then be delayed even longer. The Bush administration, for its part, is trying to regain its diplomatic prestige damaged by its failed war scheme in Iraq and to throw its weight behind the Republican Party ahead of the presidential election. In this respect, the North Korean nuclear issue is a crucial task to be resolved. Pyongyang and Washington saw eye to eye on the need to find a breakthrough in the nuclear issue, resulting in their bilateral meeting last week.

Under the six-party agreement reached last October, North Korea should have completed disabling its nuclear facilities and submitting a declaration disclosing its nuclear programs by the end of last year. In return, the U.S. was to detail the process of removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and terminating the North from the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act. Plus, the U.S. was to provide economic incentives and energy assistance to Pyongyang as reciprocal measures. However, North Korea missed the December 31 deadline to give a full declaration of its nuclear programs, and the nuclear issue still remains locked in stalemate. During the recent Geneva meeting, as expected, the two sides focused on North Korea’s second-phase denuclearization measures, its nuclear dismantlement and normalization of relations between the North and the U.S.

The second-phase measures entail the North’s disabling of its nuclear facilities and declaring of its nuclear programs. Actually, the disablement procedures have been 70-80 percent completed. So the biggest sticking point is a nuclear declaration, including details concerning a plutonium stockpile, the suspected uranium enrichment program and allegations of nuclear technology transfer to Syria. Referring to the uranium enrichment program and nuclear proliferation activities, Kim Kye-kwan said, “We did not have, we don’t have and we will not have (them).” As Kim’s remarks indicate, North Korea won’t likely give any answer that satisfies the U.S. On the other hand, Washington keeps urging the North to come clean on the allegations. So, North Korea’s nuclear declaration is the major bone of contention between the two sides.

Right after the talks, U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said in a press onference that they had “good discussions on all substantive issues.” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in regular briefing on March 14 that the Geneva talks were good and constructive, and Kim Kye-kwan also implied that the talks were satisfactory. So, did the meeting make progress? Professor Kim explains.

Regarding the second-phase denuclearization measures to be taken by North Korea, both the North and the U.S. seem to have fully expressed their opinions. The two sides apparently coordinated their views on the North’s alleged uranium enrichment program and nuclear collaboration with Syria. In other words, they appear to have clarified what North Korea must do in the second step and what the U.S. should do as corresponding measures. The two sides clearly signaled their will to resolve the nuclear issue, which I think is significant.

Christopher Hill said he had “useful and substantive” talks, but no tangible agreements were made during the Geneva meeting. Still, the two sides seem to have discussed in depth the biggest stumbling block standing in the way of the full implementation of the North’s second-step denuclearization measures. Therefore, it can be assumed that they fine-tuned more details about proposals made by both sides at the working-level discussions.

Mutual distrust between North Korea and the U.S. is so deep, and it’s hard to expect them to reach an agreement and resolve the diplomatic row through one, single meeting. For now, it will be difficult for Pyongyang to give a satisfactory answer to Washington on the sensitive issues such as whether the North is involved in uranium enrichment and nuclear technology transfer to Syria. The U.S. needs to engage in more negotiations with the North, and it is difficult to resolve the thorny issues all at once. They will be further discussed at future working-level contacts and detailed agreements will be made in the process of reconvening the six-party nuclear talks. In this way, the nuclear negotiations will likely make slow progress step by step.

Hill suggested that the whole negotiation process might stumble if North Korea fails to give a full nuclear declaration within this month. It is notable that China, the host of the six-party talks, reportedly made a compromise proposal that would state the respective positions of the North and the U.S. over the disputed points in the declaration list. The solution is based on the Shanghai Communiqué, a diplomatic document issued by China and the United States in 1972. Both Pyongyang and Washington are willing to solve the nuclear issue, and they should soon be able to produce positive results.

　 [Interview] Information Center on North Korea
After we receive the recorded programs of Chosun Central TV, we air the North Korean TV programs for ordinary citizens. There are no restrictions. Anyone can watch them here.

The Information Center on North Korea is on the sixth floor of the Gwanghwamun Post Office building in downtown Seoul. There, citizens can enjoy North Korean films and books without any restraint. Since its opening in 1989, the institute has accumulated information about North Korea, which is essential for creating a positive unification culture. Here’s Song Seung-seop, the head of the center, to tell us more about the nation’s largest storehouse of information about North Korea.

The Information Center on North Korea opened on May 22 in 1989. We have 120 kinds of periodicals, 30,000 books published in North Korea, 3,000 North Korean films and videos and 2,000 rolls of microfilm. There are some 90,000 books in the center, including South Korean publications about North Korea. The center boasts a wide array of information about the North. It was difficult for other institutions to collect North Korea-related information in the past, because it was considered classified. The Unification Ministry took the initiative in managing the information center. All the records in the center will prove useful in realizing the reunification of Korea. They have been greatly helpful to North Korea experts and researchers.

A number of people have been attracted to the information center. Mr. Song says that those ‘maniacs’ are from various walks of life. Researchers and scholars were the main visitors of the center in the early 1990s, when they began to seriously discuss unification issues. From the late 1990s, a majority of users were students working on papers and dissertations. Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the number of users has increased tenfold. Even elementary and junior high school students are said to visit the center nowadays.

Visitors love North Korean movies. Currently, we have some 3,000 North Korean films. We used to screen them once a month in the past, but we have now arranged a room to allow visitors to watch the films at any time to meet the increasing demand. A North Korean movie entitled “The Schoolgirl’s Diary” is popular these days. The film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. Many are watching the movie, since it is well organized and appeals to the South Korean public emotionally… I think many South Korean viewers like the movie because it has many scenes describing North Korea’s landscape. Lots of elderly people, who left their North Korean homes long ago, come to watch the film. The homesick people love the movie, regardless of its story or background. Some of them even recognize their own hometowns in the movie. It’s impressive to see them talking about their hometowns.

Every corner of the center is packed with North Korean books, including periodicals and textbooks. The books are classified by different subjects, so it is easy for users to find out what they want to read. The center has many books and records related to North Korea, which are seldom found in other institutions, so the reading room is always crowded with people.

…I can’t find North Korea’s official paper Rodong Shinmun at the library of my school. I heard I could read it here. That’s why I came to this center. I have visited here three, four times this week alone.
…I need some information for my research, and this place has a lot of useful materials. I lent out many books. In particular, North Korean storybooks are very interesting. Through the books, I learned what values and messages are delivered to North Korean children. I found them very helpful.
…I came here to read North Korea’s Literature Paper. I don’t think there is any equivalent here in South Korea. There are many North Korea-related institutions, but I think this center is the only place fully equipped with useful information. Having looked around the facility, I think visitors can appreciate as many North Korean movies and TV programs as possible here.

The information center has supplied a huge amount of data to those interested in North Korean issues. To allow users more convenience, it also offers a postal lending service. In the past, about 100-thousand people used the center annually, but the figure has sharply risen to 180-thousand. Mr. Song hopes that the center, as the best guide to North Korea, will continue providing correct information to many more people in a convenient way.