SEOUL, Oct 7: North Korea said on Tuesday it would not allow Japan to take part in future talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, further complicating efforts to coax the communist state back to the negotiating table.
Japan, responding swiftly to Pyongyang’s surprise announcement, said it would not accept the notion Pyongyang could decide who attends mutually agreed multilateral talks.
A statement from the North Korean foreign ministry, published by the official KCNA news agency, said Japan had made itself an untrustworthy negotiating partner by linking other bilateral problems to the talks, such as the past abduction by North Korea of Japanese nationals.
“A spokesman for the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) foreign ministry said in a statement today that the DPRK would not allow Japan to participate in any form of negotiations for the settlement of the nuclear issue in the future,” KCNA said.
Japan joined China, Russia, South Korea and the United States in an inconclusive round of nuclear talks with North Korea in Beijing in late August.
The North has since said it is not interested in more talks on a crisis that erupted a year ago. Last week, Pyongyang said it had redirected plutonium extracted from thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods to help enhance its deterrent force.
“The nuclear issue is not a bilateral issue between Japan and North Korea, but is of serious consequence to the region and the international community,” Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said.
“BLACK-HEARTED INTENTION”: “We do not accept any notion that a certain country in the six-party talks can be banned by any other party. The six-party talks are formed with the participation of those countries that are gravely concerned with the issue.”
The North Korean statement said Japan’s leaders had the “black-hearted intention” of using the talks to try to bolster the Japanese economy and their own political positions, as well as bringing up the question of abducted Japanese nationals.
“Japan is nothing but an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the US,” said the statement. “It has lost its qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner.”
The North’s statement implied there was the possibility of further multilateral talks — a significant if subtle shift from its earlier stated intention of avoiding more negotiations. Diplomats say talks are still possible, even likely, next month.
But the North kept up its trademark rhetoric, denouncing the United States on Tuesday for deploying new pilotless mini-spyplanes on the divided Korean peninsula.
“Their talk about a peaceful solution is a reversed ballad of war,” said the party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, according to KCNA.
The KCNA repeated on Tuesday Pyongyang’s demand for a non-aggression pact with Washington, dismissing any U.S. pledge short of a formal treaty as “nothing but a blank sheet of paper which can never give any legal guarantee that the Bush administration will not attack”.
The leaders of Japan, South Korea and China are on the Indonesian resort island of Bali for a summit of Southeast Asian countries and their main regional partners. The three leaders pledged to cooperate in dealing with the North’s tactics.—Reuters