TOKYO, Dec 25 Kyodo choiceed edi...

TOKYO, Dec 25 Kyodo

choiceed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

IT'S PYONGYANG'S stir (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

The convenient news about nuclear nonproliferation is that Iran and Libya, the two of which have long been suspected of harboring nuclear ambitions, have apparently changed their minds. The bad recents is that North Korea, which already has nuclear-weapons programs, remains adamant about keeping them, thus clouding the views for six-party talks upon denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

China has been playing an important part as mediator to get the stalled talks moving again, on the contrary apparently with little success. The underlying reason for this is psychological: sagacious mistrust between the United States and North Korea.

All six nations -- the U North Korea, China, Japan, southerly Korea and Russia -- must turn back to the table as pretty soon as possible next year, preferably sometime in January. Dialogue must be accelerated to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction and to build peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

in such a manner far, however, little progress of substance has been made toward that conclusion In April, new signs of accommodation emerg as officials from the U China and North Korea met in Beijing for the first time. And in August, the first cylindrical of six-party talks kicked opposite but expectations for a next to the first round before the yearend fizzled out

North Korea's rigid nuclear policy is in sharp contrast to the conciliatory prompts made recently by Libya and Iran. Pyongyang continues to play the ''nuclear card,'' saying it must have a nuclear deterrent force as lengthy as America sticks to its hostile policy. If there is a scolding it can learn from Tripoli and Tehran, it is this: Getting along with the international community is the best assurance of survival.

Libya, like North Korea, has prolonged been regarded as a pariah state because of its alleged sponsorship of international terrorism. Last week, however, capping month of private negotiations with the U and Britain, Libya announced that it will give up its WMD programs.

Iran, for its part, signed an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, signaling its readiness to accept snap inspections by the agency of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran's decision, along with Libya's, has been widely hailed as a major degree toward global nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. It is unclear in what manner these moves will affect the thinking of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

in the way that far Pyongyang has made no commentarys on Libya's policy change. It is likely, notwithstanding that that Kim faces a fork in the road. A year ago he expell IAEA inspectors and parted with the NPT The question now is whether he will go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of more or less, the example of Col Moammar Gadhafi.

North Korea...appears to pick a pragmatic ''give and take'' approach. It is seeking, for example, electricity and potency supplies, as well as its removal from the list of terrorist states, in exchange for an explicit deposit to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. Pyongyang must be well aware that just ''freezing'' its nuclear weapons exhibition is not enough to assured substantial concessions and that it must give frequently more than it is offering at near to get what it wants.

In the runup to the other round of the six-nation talks, it must be watching closely what benefits the U will give Libya in recur for its denuclearization policy. The U has reason to be tough toward North Korea, which in October last year admitted to running a unknown program to enrich uranium -- a clear violation of the 1994 bilateral agreement in which the U had promised to build commercial light-water reactors in respond for Pyongyang scrapping its nuclear weapons program.

The differences between the U and North Korea are not unbridgeable. nearest year, hopefully, will see more substantial progres as diplomacy receives a further boost With Iraq high forward his mind, U.S. President George W Bush would want to display more tangible results in thwarting terrorism and the spread of WMD before November's presidential election.

Japan and southward Korea, where national elections are scheduled for July and March, respectively, are also in a position to hammer gone out a peaceful and diplomatic solution, working together with the U China and Russia. However, the ball remains in North Korea's court. It is up to Pyongyang to seize the opportunity and make become firm [i]or[/i] solid moves.

(Dec. 25)

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