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N. Korea agrees to discuss nuclear issue

North Korea agreed Oct. 23 to resolve international concerns over its nuclear weapons program through dialogue, but stopped short of meeting a U.S. demand for an immediate end to its nuclear ambitions.

Delegates from the two Koreas came to the agreement in Pyongyang, following four days of talksthat were extended beyond schedule as the two countries attempted to tackle the nuclear issue.

"In order to guarantee peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the South and North will actively cooperate in resolving all the issues, including the nuclear issue, through dialogue," said the joint statement released Oct. 23.

The talks also focused on reconciliation between North and South Korea, with the two countries agreeing to build a joint industrial park in North Korea exclusively for South Korean businesses and to allow South Korean fishing boats to operate in North Korean waters.

But the eight-point agreement contained no clear-cut North Korean promise to give up its nuclear weapons program and honor its agreements with the United States, South Korea and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, which bar it from developing or possessing nuclear bombs.

The United States, encouraged by economic reforms and other recent changes in North Korea, wants to resolve the issue peacefully but "will judge North Korea by what it does, rather than by what it says," U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Thomas Hubbard said in a speech to South Korean economists.

Pyongyang had promised not to develop nuclear weapons under a 1994 agreement with Washington - and flouted it. Washington is not prepared to enter another lengthy negotiation to forge another written agreement, even if Pyongyang asks for it.

Shukan ST: Nov. 1, 2002

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