English Essay 7

 North Korea's nukes
A month down, a month to go
Mar 13th 2007 | NEW YORK AND TOKYO
From Economist.com
Where is the tentative nuclear deal with North Korea going?
MOHAMED ELBARADEI gets all the cushy jobs. The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, on Tuesday March 13th, to discuss with his hosts the return of UN nuclear inspectors. The last lot were expelled just over five years ago, shortly before North Korea flounced out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But after North Korea tested a nuclear bomb last year a tentative deal was struck in February with the five other parties interested in its nuclear activities (South Korea, Japan, China, America and Russia). That should allow the inspectors to go back in.
They are supposed to verify whether the hermit kingdom, as it agreed in February, shuts down its Yongbyon reactor by mid-April. If Mr ElBaradei’s team gets in and confirms that the off-switch has been pulled, the cautious February deal—which promised energy supplies, a normalisation of diplomatic ties with America and Japan, and other goodies in exchange for North Korea’s co-operation on the nuclear side—may be reckoned to have some substance. Eventually Yongbyon is supposed to be dismantled, something the UN inspectors would also be expected to verify.
One month into the 60 days allowed by the dealmakers for these steps to be taken, not all the signs are hopeful. As part of the six-party process, negotiators from North Korea and America met in New York last week to discuss bilateral relations. That seemed cordial enough. But a parallel gathering over two days between representatives from Japan and North Korea in Hanoi floundered almost immediately. Vietnam’s capital was considered to be a suitably neutral venue for the two antagonists. North Korea wants Japan to dismantle sanctions imposed after North Korea's missile and nuclear tests last year. For Japan, news about Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s is the pressing issue. On the first morning, Japan demanded the prompt return of a dozen abductees whose fate is unclear, and insisted that seven suspects thought responsible for the abductions be handed over for trial. The North Koreans said that the abduction issue had already been settled and—after a false start the next day—said there was no point in continuing talks. Thus North Korea now attempts to paint Japan as an obstacle to progress in the six-party forum, while it calls the side-discussions with the United States constructive.
Then there is the question of financial sanctions that have been hurting North Korea’s leaders. In February the American and North Korean envoys agreed to resolve the issue of frozen accounts in a Macau-based bank that, America says, North Korea used to launder money. An inquiry orded by the government of Macau claims there is no sign of money laundering in the bank, though the Americans continue to insist they have evidence. America wants to be convinced that the bank has cleaned up its act; it would be embarrassing if it turns out that the laundering claims are false.
What Mr ElBaradei himself achieves may not become clear for some days. America’s envoy, Christopher Hill, arrives in Beijing later this week and may meet the IAEA boss there. Another round of six-party talks is supposed to kick off on March 19th in Beijing, after a flurry of diplomatic “working group” meetings in which the South Koreans are to look at how to provide aid and energy across the border and the Chinese are to chair talks on how—eventually—to clear away nuclear weapons from North Korea.
Even if this part of the process goes forward as planned, there will be many more opportunities for it to be destabilised. Decades of mistrust and broken promises have made all sides extremely prickly by this point. Just inching forward, not getting stuck or going into reverse, will be a real achievement.