U.S., North Korean Negotiators Agree to Keep Talking

After tense talks, U.S. and North Korean negotiators agreed Tuesday to meet again later this week to try to break a deadlock over American demands to inspect a suspected nuclear weapons facility in North Korea.

Some U.S. officials said the decision to resume talks Thursday in New York was a positive sign given the mounting tension and war of words between Washington and the Communist regime. The talks began Friday in New York and had shifted to Washington this week.

Unless access to the underground site is granted, the Clinton administration has threatened to withdraw from a 1994 deal under which North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons program in exchange for two light-water nuclear reactors, supplies of fuel oil and a promise of better relations with the West.

In public, the United States has insisted on unconditional access to the suspected nuclear complex and flatly rejected North Korea’s demand for a $300-million payment to allow a one-time inspection.

In private, U.S. negotiators have considered compromises such as agreeing to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. agency responsible for international nuclear verification, or channeling development aid through other U.N. agencies.

Washington’s hard-line public negotiating stance, however, has been complicated by an apparent disagreement with South Korea on how best to deal with the unpredictable military regime in the North.

In Seoul on Monday, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung told William J. Perry, the newly appointed U.S. government policy coordinator on North Korea, that “it’s time to think about” lifting punishing sanctions imposed for decades against North Korea.

Since taking office in February, Kim has sought to engage North Korea through a “sunshine policy” of economic investment, diplomatic overtures, visits by tourist ships and other inducements aimed at opening up the reclusive regime.

The two countries remain technically at war more than four decades after the Korean War ended in a truce. Talks aimed at finally forging a peace agreement are due to resume Jan. 18 in Geneva.

Separate U.S. talks aimed at persuading North Korea to stop developing and exporting ballistic missiles have bogged down. The last round ended without result in early October. No new talks have been scheduled.

But several U.S. intelligence officials said that recent news reports from Washington and Tokyo suggesting that North Korea is building several new launch facilities, or is preparing to test another three-stage rocket, as it did in August, were misleading.

“There’s nothing new going on,” one official said. “It’s just that people are starting to pay attention.”

North Korea’s military rulers, in turn, clearly have paid attention to recent news and Internet reports citing a draft proposal by the Pentagon to invade North Korea and destroy its leadership in event of war.

A spokesman for the General Staff of North Korea’s army accused the United States of using the suspected nuclear site as an excuse to invade his country.