Factbox: What regional powers think about N.Korea
SEOUL |
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Wednesday the nuclear crisis on the peninsula must be tackled by negotiation, but chances of international talks are slim because of a gulf between the parties involved, and a lack of pressure on an emboldened North Korea.
Lee, who has vowed a tough stance against any further attack by the North, also called for fresh dialogue between the rival Koreas, saying a hardline military policy alone by Seoul will not ease the tension.
Here are the positions of the countries involved in the so-called six-party negotiation process, which stalled in 2008 when Pyongyang walked out. It had already quit a global nuclear anti-arms pact in 2003.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea's position has eased since May, when it announced tough steps in retaliation for the sinking of the navy corvette Cheonan, blamed on North Korea, by dropping an apology from the North as a precondition.
It still says the North must make it clear it is serious about dialogue to reduce tensions and eliminate its nuclear programme. Seoul is working on a proposal for the North with preconditions for resuming the talks, details are unclear.
One of the conditions is that North Korea open up its previously undisclosed uranium enrichment programme to strict international monitoring.
South Korea wants the six-party talks, if resumed, to address the enrichment work and a separate accord on its oversight.
CHINA
China, North Korea's only major ally and financial backer, has repeatedly urged dialogue to resolve the crisis and called for a resumption of the six-party talks without preconditions.
Beijing has said its erstwhile friend should follow through on its offer to admit IAEA inspectors to ease nuclear tensions. Ultimately it does not want another nuclear power in the region, nor does it wish North Korea to collapse, sending a wave of refugees into northeast China and potentially leading to a unified Korea allied with the United States.
UNITED STATES
Washington has said the six-party talks cannot restart unless North Korea takes steps to dismantle its nuclear programme and says it is wary of rewarding provocative acts with talks or aid.
Pyongyang's suggestion to an unofficial U.S. envoy that it will allow U.N. monitors to inspect its uranium enrichment work, a potential second route to nuclear weapons, is seen as positive if followed through. But this would be far from enough to restart the diplomatic process in Washington's view, especially as it wants North Korea to dismantle all atomic work.
It has been urging China to take a tougher stance.
JAPAN
Japan has joined the United States and South Korea in urging China to do more to rein in the North and in calling for Pyongyang to take concrete steps toward denuclearization ahead of talks.
Tokyo has refrained from direct comment on the IAEA inspections offer, saying it wants more details, though it has urged Pyongyang to cooperate in order to help restart talks.
Japan's relations with North Korea, with which it has no diplomatic ties, are complicated by Tokyo's demand that Pyongyang provide more convincing information about the fate of Japanese nationals abducted decades ago, a highly emotive issue in Japan.
RUSSIA
Russia favors resumption of the six-party talks but has said recently that the conditions were not in place. That suggested that North Korea must at least show a willingness to abide by commitments on its nuclear programme but also that South Korea should stop conducting U.S.-supported military exercises, which Moscow says add to the tension.
Russia shares a short border with North Korea and, like China, does not want its neighbor to acquire nuclear weapons and would be alarmed by the chaos of a North Korean collapse.
Russia, which has complained about NATO's encroachment on its western flank, has limited influence with Pyongyang. It would be unlikely to welcome the emergence of a unified, U.S.-allied Korea to its east.
(Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Linda Sieg in Tokyo and Steve Gutterman in Moscow)
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I find it amazing that the people of North Korea, are starving and they have no idea how much food their relatives in the south have. Wars have started over food or the lack thereof, and Kings have lost their heads and their thrones. This region will be no different. The powers that be, are not sure how China would react.
So they stay their hands for the time being…
This is an error of naivete. China sold 20 tons of tributyl phosphate to North Korea in 2002 which is only useful in extracting plutonium from spent fuel rods. That much plutonium is only useful in creating nuclear weapons.
China portrays North Korea as an “erstwhile” friend for the moment because it is in their interest to do so, but the recently revealed advanced centrifuge complex in North Korea could not possibly exist without China’s recent assistance.
Chinese leadership is more willing to consider long-term strategies than are American leaders. Their patience in achieving their goals is evidenced by how long it took them to resolve the Hong Kong issue to their satisfaction. They are now exhibiting the same patient perseverance with their Taiwan problem.
China has been assisting North Korea because it is in their strategic best interest to do so. China does not like America’s presence and meddling on their side of the Pacific Rim for many strategic and economic reasons.
For just one example of many, there is a large deposit of oil beneath the South China Sea that is technically in international waters. China has been recently asserting that those waters are sovereign. An American presence in their region is an impediment to those sovereign claims.
I hope the people at the DoD and State Department are spending some serious time in trying to unveil the rest of China’s strategy so they can begin considering a response to it. The geopolitical, strategic, economic, and military consequences of an error in judgement could be momentous.
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