Nork extortion leads talks to brink of collapse

NY Times:

Negotiations on a step-by-step deal that the Bush administration hopes will lead North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program appeared near collapse on Sunday over North Korea’s demands for huge shipments of fuel oil and electricity before agreeing to a schedule for turning over its nuclear weapons and fuel.

The chief American envoy, Christopher R. Hill, said he and North Korea’s envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, held a “lengthy and very frank” meeting on Sunday. But Mr. Hill seemed much less optimistic that a deal could be struck. Negotiators are planning to end the talks on Monday, and other envoys were pessimistic that any breakthrough would emerge on the final day.

Meanwhile, a summary of the proposed agreement being circulated among senior policy makers in Washington makes it clear that even if the North agreed to take the listed first steps — sealing its main nuclear reactor and inviting international inspectors back into the country — there was no specified time period during which it would be required to turn over any nuclear weapons or weapons fuel that it has produced in recent years. And such a turnover would happen only after reaching another agreement.

In essence, the agreement Mr. Hill, an assistant secretary of state, is negotiating could prevent the North from producing more weapons, but defers discussions over the weapons and fuel it has stockpiled. Mr. Hill had earlier suggested that if there was agreement, follow-up talks could be set up in March and April.

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Mr. Hill, a seasoned negotiator who played a critical role in the Dayton accords that ended conflict in the Balkans in 1995, made it clear that the United States would not sign a deal that provided North Korea with energy but failed to ensure that it gave up its nuclear material.

“We’re not looking to provide energy assistance so that they could avoid taking the further steps on denuclearization,” he said at a news conference late Sunday in Beijing. “We understand that you can’t just get there in one jump, you have to take several steps, so we’re prepared to take several steps.”

He added, “But we’re not interested in providing that kind of assistance so that they don’t have to take the next step.”

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Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, has reported that North Korea wants an annual energy package of two million tons of fuel oil and two million kilowatts of electricity for taking the first steps in the agreement. It quoted unidentifed diplomatic contacts who said the North also wanted a short-term infusion of hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel oil almost immediately. That presumably would be a reward for shutting down Yongbyon, even though it does not provide electric energy.

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Their demands highlight their organized crime mentality. The North Koreans are weighing an attempt to run out the clock in hopes of getting a better deal from a Democrat wimp administration against the pain of the personal sanctions that hte Bush administration has put in place against the Nork thug in chief.