His Spin vs. His Spin: North Korea Wants It's Chips Back
Mary Anne Simpson
March 17, 2007
The six member, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the U.S. talks are set for Monday, March 19. Ahead of the talks, North Korea has asked for the 25 million dollars seized by the somewhat independent Chinese territory of Macau to be returned to them.
In return North Korea has agreed to continue its progress towards shutting down its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon and ceasing its nuclear program in incremental fashion as U.S. and other countries economic sanctions are lifted.
The exact words of North Korea were according to Associated Press expressed by Chung Yung-Woo is that, "[North Korea] has begun preparations to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility" ... and it will submit a list of its nuclear programs and will disable its nuclear facility, "as soon as the right conditions are created."
Kim Jon Il arrived today in Beijing ahead of the planned meeting of the six member nations. He candidly stated he had not received any official proposal from the U.S. on the frozen assets held by Macau. He clearly asked for assurances these funds would be returned before North Korea begins to comply with open inspections of nuclear facilities and disabling of its nuclear program.
The current U.S. negotiator has at last been given the bargaining chips to accomplish a meaningful intercourse with North Korea and the ability to engage one on one with the leaders of North Korea. At present the U.S. Treasury Department has indicated that their investigation of Banco Delta Asia alleged to have laundered funds illegally to North Korea is complete. It was this investigation of money laundering that brought about the seizure of funds by Macau.
The Treasury Department estimates that between 8 and 12 million dollars of the funds frozen by Macau could be released. According to the U.S. Treasury it would ultimately be up to Macau to release the funds. Realistically, however it is the U.S. that holds the trump card. If the U.S. agrees, there is little doubt Macau will return the seized funds.
In a vacuum it may appear North Korea is pushing the envelope on this flat pre condition to bargaining at the Six Member Talks. A brief history of the relations between the U.S. and North Korea illuminates the reasons for "quid pro quo," in the mind of North Korea.
MIT's Center for International Studies, February 2007 issue puts these requests in perspective. The article, "North Korea: Negotiations At Work by Leon V. Sigal ably traces the rocky road of promises made and promises broken in the relations between the U.S. and North Korea. See: http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/Audit_02_07_Sigal.pdf
In short, the round robin of agreements made to and between North Korea for good behavior were either slow in coming or never arrived going back as far as 1994. President Clinton entered into agreements to supply heating oil and a variety of life saving commodities to North Korea in the Agreed Framework of 1994. In turn, North Korea decreased its production of plutonium and other necessary means to create nuclear reactors. This was the deal.
The problem came about when the tough hardliners/contract for America Congress won and controlled the legislative branch of government. Immediately, the hardliners from the school of a behaviorist nightmare began reneging on the promised basic life support supplies agreed to by the Clinton administration.
The chants of "rewarding bad behavior." These chants creating a double bind present up until very recently. As a consequence the heating oil was late or did not arrive. The food stuffs were held up in port. Everything either arrived late or didn't arrive at all. In short, North Korea got tired of sitting in the corner with the dunce hat on in an interminable "time out," and reacted by ticking off everybody.
Now, North Korea wants "this for that" negotiations. They want positive tangible assurances that if they do something they will be rewarded. They want their money back, they want food, they want to hang out with the other countries in their region. Is North Korea without fault, certainly not.
They want to be treated with respect and not treated like some Skinner laboratory animal. The circuity of who did what and when is obscured by the fundamental importance of allowing dialogue in the region and reduce the possibility of an international nuclear disaster.
In return North Korea has agreed to continue its progress towards shutting down its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon and ceasing its nuclear program in incremental fashion as U.S. and other countries economic sanctions are lifted.
The exact words of North Korea were according to Associated Press expressed by Chung Yung-Woo is that, "[North Korea] has begun preparations to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility" ... and it will submit a list of its nuclear programs and will disable its nuclear facility, "as soon as the right conditions are created."
Kim Jon Il arrived today in Beijing ahead of the planned meeting of the six member nations. He candidly stated he had not received any official proposal from the U.S. on the frozen assets held by Macau. He clearly asked for assurances these funds would be returned before North Korea begins to comply with open inspections of nuclear facilities and disabling of its nuclear program.
The current U.S. negotiator has at last been given the bargaining chips to accomplish a meaningful intercourse with North Korea and the ability to engage one on one with the leaders of North Korea. At present the U.S. Treasury Department has indicated that their investigation of Banco Delta Asia alleged to have laundered funds illegally to North Korea is complete. It was this investigation of money laundering that brought about the seizure of funds by Macau.
The Treasury Department estimates that between 8 and 12 million dollars of the funds frozen by Macau could be released. According to the U.S. Treasury it would ultimately be up to Macau to release the funds. Realistically, however it is the U.S. that holds the trump card. If the U.S. agrees, there is little doubt Macau will return the seized funds.
In a vacuum it may appear North Korea is pushing the envelope on this flat pre condition to bargaining at the Six Member Talks. A brief history of the relations between the U.S. and North Korea illuminates the reasons for "quid pro quo," in the mind of North Korea.
MIT's Center for International Studies, February 2007 issue puts these requests in perspective. The article, "North Korea: Negotiations At Work by Leon V. Sigal ably traces the rocky road of promises made and promises broken in the relations between the U.S. and North Korea. See: http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/Audit_02_07_Sigal.pdf
In short, the round robin of agreements made to and between North Korea for good behavior were either slow in coming or never arrived going back as far as 1994. President Clinton entered into agreements to supply heating oil and a variety of life saving commodities to North Korea in the Agreed Framework of 1994. In turn, North Korea decreased its production of plutonium and other necessary means to create nuclear reactors. This was the deal.
The problem came about when the tough hardliners/contract for America Congress won and controlled the legislative branch of government. Immediately, the hardliners from the school of a behaviorist nightmare began reneging on the promised basic life support supplies agreed to by the Clinton administration.
The chants of "rewarding bad behavior." These chants creating a double bind present up until very recently. As a consequence the heating oil was late or did not arrive. The food stuffs were held up in port. Everything either arrived late or didn't arrive at all. In short, North Korea got tired of sitting in the corner with the dunce hat on in an interminable "time out," and reacted by ticking off everybody.
Now, North Korea wants "this for that" negotiations. They want positive tangible assurances that if they do something they will be rewarded. They want their money back, they want food, they want to hang out with the other countries in their region. Is North Korea without fault, certainly not.
They want to be treated with respect and not treated like some Skinner laboratory animal. The circuity of who did what and when is obscured by the fundamental importance of allowing dialogue in the region and reduce the possibility of an international nuclear disaster.
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