NORTH KOREA:One day after North Korea agreed to halt its nuclear programmes in exchange for energy aid and improved relations with the outside world, both South and North Korea said they would resume high-level talks aimed at normalising relations.
Warmer relations between the two countries is seen as essential if the deal struck at the six-way talks in Beijing yesterday is to have any effect.
The accord, agreed after lengthy six-way talks over the past three years, requires the communist nation to halt its nuclear programmes in exchange for one million tons of fuel oil and other assistance. What is bothering some Korea-watchers is the fact that the progress of North Korea's disarmament plans will need to be decided at future, possibly problematic, talks.
North and South Korea are still technically at war since an uneasy armistice ended the 1950-1953 war on the peninsula and left a heavily armed border dividing the two countries. South Korea is now one of the richest countries in the world, while North Korea's economy is close to bankruptcy.
Cabinet-level dialogue collapsed in acrimony after North Korea test-fired missiles last July. South Korea was further angered by their northern neighbour's decision to test its first nuclear weapon in October.
The South's unification ministry said delegates would meet in the North Korean border city of Kaesong today to discuss when to open new talks. "South-North relations have to be normalised," said South Korean unification ministry spokesman Yang Chang-seok. "We will focus on resuming the ministerial talks at the earliest possible date."
Tuesday's nuclear accord marks a turnabout for North Korea, which expelled international inspectors and restarted its sole operating nuclear reactor in 2003. But the rest of the world will be watching warily to see how the accord is implemented.
Nerves were rattled yesterday by an announcement on the North Korean state news agency KCNA, which said the country was receiving the fuel oil aid in return for "temporary suspension" of its nuclear facilities, neglecting to mention the complete disarmament for which the agreement calls. It was unclear whether the KCNA report meant the country was backtracking on the deal or whether it was simply nationalist sabre-rattling to rally a domestic audience.
Sceptics are saying we were in the same position just a year and a half ago, when North Korea agreed to halt its nuclear weapons programme and allow the inspectors to return, but the following day resumed its hardline position.
The detail of this accord is similar to one struck by Bill Clinton's government in 1994, which also failed to hold.
However, the fact that five regional powers are involved in the current deal may work in its favour, according to analysts.
Japan's role in the settlement is still unclear and North Korea criticised the region's biggest economic power for refusing to provide aid under the deal.
Ri Pyong-dok, an official at the North Korean foreign ministry who deals with Japan, said Tokyo was obliged under the terms of the deal to contribute to the agreement. However, Tokyo wants to see some progress first in a row over North Korea's abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.
Other potential headaches include the prospect of how South Korea will deal with at least part of the oil being diverted into keeping the North's military machine running.
There are growing fears the deal could only be the start of another negotiation process which could unravel under the pressure of the differing agendas of its six signatories - the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
However, as US president George Bush, who once listed North Korea as a "rogue state" in an "axis of evil", said yesterday, the agreement also represented "the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programmes".