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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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War clouds loom large over N. Korea by P. Muthiah Deadlocked talks between the United States and North Korea over the latter's nuclear programme have taken a new turn. North Korea has urged the UN Secretary General to dissolve the UN command that has existed for the past 51 years in the peninsula and has also demanded the withdrawal of US troops. In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the North Korean representative at the truce village of Panmunjom, Colonel General Ri Chan-bok said that a war in Korea was almost unavoidable as long as the US' hostile policy towards North Korea continued. Two Koreas North Korea also warned the UN Secretary General on the recent decision of the United States to upgrade military readiness, spending US$ 11 billion on advanced weaponry while reducing a third of its 37,500 troops from South Korea. The Korean peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel by the United States and the then USSR into two zones in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, purely for military reasons. In August 1948 Syngman Rhee became the first President of the Republic of Korea and in September that year the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was born. The war between the two Koreas encouraged by super powers cost the lives of four million Korean civilians and rendered five million homeless. In June 1950, the United Nations became directly involved in the crisis and the temporary absence of the USSR at the Security Council was favourable to the United States which sent its forces in support of South Korea, thus becoming a continued threat to North Korea even today. The armistice signed by the warring sides at the truce village of Panmunjom was not intended to be a permanent division, but spoke of a Peace Treaty. Attempts made to translate this armistice into a Peace Treaty have failed. However, these positive impacts were marred by US President Bush's proclamation of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iran and Iraq, and the support given to South Korea. Relations between North Korea and the United States further deteriorated in October 2002 when the US delegation that visited Pyongyang said the North was pursuing a covert programme to produce enriched uranium. Although three rounds of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme was held at working level between six parties, there were no signs of positive results. China, Japan, North and South Koreas, Russia and the United States were the six parties at the talks. Mistrust of the US At a meeting in Jakarta, both the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun had to agree that mistrust existed between the two countries. The North Korean Foreign Minister said that if the US was willing to improve bilateral relations, his country would not regard it as a permanent enemy. However, the Bush administration has been compelled to adopt a conciliatory approach as the Democratic contender at the November Presidential Election, John Kerry criticised the lack of progress in the negotiations. Aid and security The United States says North Korea would receive aid and security guarantees if it agrees to a step-by-step dismantling both of the plutonium weapons and the uranium bomb programmes. The US also says South Korea was convinced that the North was developing them. It also says aid and assistance would be given first from South Korea and Japan and later from the United States, only if the North had shown long-term commitment to the deal. However, the North has offered to freeze rather than dismantle its weapons programme if it receives guarantees of vital energy supplies to make up for a serious shortfall. Will the United States that hopes to paralyse North Korea agree to provide such guarantees? |
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