Two Views On N. Korea Deal

North Korea says it will not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first gives it a nuclear reactor for generating power. The U.S. is rejecting that demand and is urging the communist nation to abide by the agreement announced Monday after over two years' negotiations involving the U.S., Russia, Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea.

Both Japan and China are backing the U.S. in saying that the deal announced Monday in Beijing does require North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program before there can be any consideration of North Korea's demand for a nuclear power plant.

"The Japanese side has continuously said that North Korea's demand is unacceptable," says Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang says "the common statement was adopted by all six parties and I don't think North Korea has any misunderstanding."

The Chinese official says all of the nations participating in the two-year-long negotiations should "solemnly implement their commitments in a serious manner so as to realize the peaceful de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

He expects the next round of six-nation negotiations to begin in the first half of November, as previously scheduled. Japan, meanwhile, is about to take a crack at the issue, according to the TV network NHK, which says bilateral talks are now being arranged on nuclear weapons, missiles, and Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Korea had insisted that it be given a light-water reactor, a type less easily diverted for weapons use, in exchange for abandoning nuclear weapons. The U.S. says the agreement reached in Beijing Monday says the six countries in the negotiations will discuss the reactor issue "at an appropriate time."

North Korea said Tuesday it wants a reactor first.

"The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea's) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing (light-water reactors), a physical guarantee for confidence-building," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "This is our just and consistent stand as solid as a deeply rooted rock."

"If the U.S. opts for reneging on its promise, we will go ahead without an inch of deflection along the road indicated by the Songun line, our faith and signpost," the statement warned, referring to leader Kim Jong Il's policy emphasizing the military's primary role in society.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said North Korea should comply with the Beijing agreement.

"This is not the agreement that they signed and we'll give them some time to reflect on the agreement they signed," said McCormack.

Other countries at the talks made clear that the reactor could only be discussed after the North rejoins the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency — which North Korea pledged to do in Monday's agreement.

U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli emphasized earlier in Washington that the "appropriate time" for discussing the reactor means only after the North comes in compliance with those conditions.

"It's a theoretical proposition in the future, contingent on dismantling having taken place, re-signing up to the NPT and having IAEA safeguards in place," he said Monday in Washington.

The North had demanded during the six-nation talks in Beijing — which include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas — that it be allowed to keep a civilian nuclear program for power generation after it disarms.

But the United States strongly opposed the demand, and Monday's agreement only acknowledged that the North had "stated" its claim to that right.

The Bush administration has opposed anything resembling a 1994 U.S.-North Korea agreement, which promised the North two light-water reactors for power. That project stalled amid the current crisis that broke out in late 2002 after U.S. officials said the North admitted to a secret nuclear program.

North Korea's position is likely to be a major sticking point when talks resume later this year.

"If the North meant it, it would pose a lot of problems for future talks," said Baek Seung-joo, senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in Seoul. "The United States will never be able to accept the North's demand as it means going back to the 1994 agreement."

The agreement Monday had drawn praise around the world and raised hopes of a resolution of the North Korea nuclear standoff, which has sparked concerns about instability and an arms race in northeast Asia. In exchange for abandoning its weapons, the North will be given security guarantees and energy aid.

The chief U.N. nuclear inspector called Monday for a quick return to North Korea, which expelled his agency in early 2003.

"The earlier we go back the better," said Mohamed Elbaradei, head of the Vienna-based IAEA.

The main American nuclear negotiator had urged the North to shut down the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, its main nuclear facility, after the talks.

"What is the purpose of operating it at this point?" said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. "The time to turn it off would be about now."