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Diplomatic tussle intensifies

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE APRIL 28. The diplomatic tug-of-war between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or the North) intensified in Pyongyang today as the two countries meandered along in their latest Cabinet-level parleys.

The talks are now scheduled to end tomorrow. The DPRK's nuclear status, as perceived by the United States, dominated the talks today too, even though the discussions were meant primarily to pave the way for closer economic ties between the two countries.

The DPRK reaffirmed its disinclination to discuss the nuclear issue with South Korea. According to the DPRK, its possession of nuclear weapons, an issue increasingly recognised by the U.S. as a virtual fait accompli, is a matter that could be discussed only with Washington and certainly not with Seoul. However, the DPRK team is understood to have informed its dialogue partners from the Seoul that efforts would be made to resolve the nuclear issue "peacefully''.

The DPRK's latest line should be seen in the context of a consistent position that the international community could expect Pyongyang to move away from the nuclearisation path only if Washington were to do likewise and desist from threatening North Korea with the possibility of an alleged ``pre-emptive nuclear strike''.

In a significant twist to the current inter-Korean talks, the DPRK called upon the South to honour the "spirit'' of their bilateral understandings that were reached during their summit in Pyongyang in 2000. The DPRK leader, Kim Jong-il, and the then South Korean President, Kim Dae-jung, had agreed at that summit to initiate a process of reconciliation.

The DPRK's latest tit-for-tat demand about the "spirit'' of a bilateral accord followed the South's insistence yet again today that Pyongyang should honour the ``spirit'' of their bilateral pact of 1992 on keeping the Korean peninsula as a nuclear-weapons-free zone. In a separate but related development, the DPRK maintained that it would seek to enhance its "defensive capabilities'' in the context of Japan's perceived militarism.

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