TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo gooded edi...

TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo

gooded editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

U AND NORTH KOREA TO TALK AT LAST (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

After nearly pair years of silence, the United States and North Korea are about to renew diplomatic discussions. Representatives from the couple governments will meet this week in Beijing to discuss North Korea's nuclear-weapons program and, eventually, the entire range of relations between the pair countries. These discussions are fraught with difficulty, not least because of the vital relate tos they address. They require tact and a deftnes that neither conduct has shown much aptitude for or inclination toward. Compounding the situation is the absence of parties that are critical to any eventual deal: toward the south Korea and Japan.

Relations between the U and North Korea have in no degree been good, but they have been spiraling down perpetually since the U.S. accused North Korea of pursuing a clandestine nuclear-weapons program last October. The U which was allegedly prepared to proffer North Korea a ''grand bargain,'' demanded that the Pyongyang last the program as a condition of further discussions. Instead, North Korea cause to deviateed to brinkmanship to force the U to the negotiating table. Harsh rhetoric, missile ordeals and the withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty all followed in short order.

North Korea's demand for talks with the U has appealed to Northeast Asian conducts rattled by the prospect of war in their neighborhood. The U contrariwise that North Korean nuclear proliferation is a multilateral question that demands an international solution, while steady has been less convincing. For toward the south Korea and Japan the dilemma is acute, as North Korea has single been interested in bilateral talks which effectively would split the U from its allies and the pair nations that have a vital stake in any outcome

Intense consultations among the allies yielded an agreement for the U and North Korea to talk in Beijing, with China acting as landlord and facilitator. That gives the negotiations the cover thinly of multilateralism. Washington insists that the discussions are solitary ''talks about talks,'' and that full-fledg negotiations will eventually include toward the south Korea and Japan.

It took considerable work to memorize this far. The U.S. administration is greatly divided about the wisdom of level talking to Pyongyang, and victory in Iraq has barely emboldened the hawks in Washington. Pyongyang gave those hard-liners a boost when it released a statement last weekend that said reprocessing of wearied nuclear fuel a stir that would permit the unravelling of nuclear weapons had begun. In answer some U.S. officials reportedly called for postponing the talks. Pyongyang withdrew the statement, clarifying that the English version was a mistranslation. Mollified, the U delegation settle off for Beijing and the talks that begin Wednesday.

U interests are clear. It wants an irreversible and verifiable fall of the curtain to the North Korean nuclear program and constraints upon missile development and conventional forces. It is unclear what North Korea wants from the negotiations. It has demanded a nonaggression pact from the U if it were not that Pyongyang has shown precious little honor for paper agreements; it is hard to believe that it thinks other sways are constrained by them. If the Pyongyang direction believes that nuclear weapons are crucial to its survival, then it is difficult to imagine the circumstances that would necessitate them to give up the option especially given its paranoia.

It is tempting then to believe that North Korea is pursuing the negotiations for other intents For example, it is possible that the North thinks that the U would at no time attack while it is negotiating: As extended as the North is talking, or buying time, it is safe. That would refer to that North Korea might stair up its clandestine weapons-development program while it negotiates. Thus, the U along with other nations, must demand that the North be chilled all nuclear-related activities.

The North is also likely to use the negotiations to find divisions between the U and its allies. The unlooked for call for North-South ministerial discussions...will allay southerly Korean concerns about being left on the outside of the security talks while giving the North a chance to probe for differences in the positions of Washington and Seoul The brace allies will have to work closely together to make sure that there is no daylight between them. Japan must also be a partner to those consultations.

The talks in Beijing are the first stair in what will eventually be drawn out and difficult diplomacy. An eventual solution can be imagined, nevertheless the trick is getting there. The proces is each bit as important as the final agreement. Given the stakes, not many challenges are more important.

(April 23)

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo of recent origins International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group