U.S. officials said monday in New York that North Korea has agreed to return to talks on its nuclear program. The North Koreans left talks back in 2002 and soon after fired back up its reactor at Yongbyon, which was inoperable for almost 10 years (1994). At the same time in 2002 North Korea asked the UN inspectors to leave the country. The North Korean Government has stated that it would return to talks if the US would agree to one on one talks with them, but the Bush administation had refused such talks.
The 6 way talks that were agreed to are much the same as they were in 2002, they consist of the following nations: United States, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan and of course, North Korea. “The North Koreans said they would return to the six-party process, but did not give us a time.” stated US department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya simply says “the sooner the better. It will imply the next couple of weeks.” He also reported that the talks would most likely be held in Beijeng.
Sean McCormack also added to his release “The ball is in North Korea’s court to provide the time they will return to the table and to actually return to the table to engage in a constructive manner.”
Now whether or not the North Koreans return to the talks and begin to get the “ball rolling” is one thing, but will they let arms inspectors and UN inspectors back into the country to inspect the reactors like Yongbyon and others is a more important issue.
