N Korea lays out tough pre-conditions for talks
North Korea offered talks Thursday with South Korea and the United States, but laid out pre-conditions that Seoul dismissed as absurd and analysts said would do little to reduce soaring tensions. The demands laid out by the Norths main military body included the withdrawal of UN sanctions and a permanent end to South Korea-US joint military drills.
The Norths conditions were swiftly rejected by South Korea which, together with the United States, has made any talks conditional on the North putting its nuclear weapons programme on the table.
North Koreas demands are totally incomprehensible. Its absurd, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young told reporters.
South Koreas new president, Park Geun-Hye, has made tentative and conditional offers of talks, but the Norths initial response was to swat them away as a crafty trick.
Some analysts see the Norths engagement in a debate over dialogue no matter how unrealistic the conditions as a welcome shift from the apocalyptic threats that have been pouring out of Pyongyang. But others like Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group, ruled out any softening of Pyongyangs position and said those hoping for dialogue were being wilfully naive.
It's almost like Danny boy is upset that the missiles aren't already flying... | The North, Pinkston argued, had bound itself to a course that could only end with its recognition as a nuclear power a status that is anathema to the United States and its allies.
So what is there to even talk about? Pinkston said. The North is committed. Its burned its bridges. Any reversal could only be made at immense domestic cost to the regime.
And there is simply no way any US administration is going to sit down and confirm a change in the status quo with the North as a nuclear state, Pinkston said. Were still firmly on a collision course, and its not going to end well.'
The first step demanded by the Norths National Military Commission was the withdrawal of cooked up UN sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear test in February. North Korea has repeatedly cited the sanctions as a prime trigger for the current crisis.
Good. They're working. Tighten them up... |
Posted by: Steve White 2013-04-19 |