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North Korea talks in New Mexico endRichardson: Envoy says no plans for nuclear weapons
SANTA FE, New Mexico (CNN) -- Gov. Bill Richardson, concluding a third and final day of meetings with a North Korean delegation, said he believes "there will be a peaceful resolution of the current situation through diplomacy and through dialogue." A North Korean official also assured Richardson that his country does not intend to build nuclear weapons, the governor said after the meetings at his mansion in Santa Fe ended Saturday morning. But in Washington, a senior administration official was skeptical, saying the talks "did not address the issues of concern to the international community." Although North Korea said it was willing to have a dialogue, it "continued to take steps in the wrong direction, especially with their withdrawal from the NPT [nonproliferation treaty] and to threaten further steps such as missile testing that would raise tensions with the international community," the official said. Nevertheless, the official said, "We will look carefully at everything the North Koreans said in New Mexico. The usual channels of communication remain open for the U.S. and North Korea." Hostile actions called part of 'strategy'Richardson said recent hostile actions from the North Koreans appear to be part of their negotiating strategy. "When you negotiate with the North Koreans, this is what happens: On the one hand, before a negotiation, they're upping the ante with a lot of belligerent initiatives and statements. And then you negotiate with them. This has always been the case when I've negotiated with North Korea." Richardson recalled that, in 1994, when he traveled to North Korea to negotiate the release of a U.S. pilot who had been shot down after his aircraft accidentally crossed the border, "the first thing they told me was the United States had to pay for the ammunition that knocked the plane down. So, they're upping the ante." Richardson described the week's conversations as "cordial," adding, "The atmosphere was good; they were very frank. We covered almost every issue." Nevertheless, he said, the talks "were a little tense sometimes. They're very dogmatic. The North Koreans, they are very programmed, they have their policy statements they don't want to diverge from. They're very doctrinaire. They don't negotiate like others -- quid pro quo." Richardson said the North Koreans told him they were prepared not to build nuclear weapons and to freeze work on nuclear plants, but they wanted to talk first. "So, this is not like U.N. or formal diplomacy. This is almost negotiating in a bizarre atmosphere, in a totally different environment. This is why it is difficult to deal with North Korea." The next step, he said, "is for official channels to open between the United States and North Korea. The time and place has to be negotiated by both sides." Saturday morning's talks concluded nine hours of conversations since Thursday for the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who has had extensive dealings with North Koreans. Richardson said he was acting at the behest of the North Koreans and with Washington's permission. But Pak Gil Yon, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN that the men went to meet Richardson "at his invitation." Asked whether North Korea will start testing missiles, he said he had heard nothing about planned tests (Full Story), but he said his country would not respect a previous moratorium on testing because the United States "has abandoned all commitments and promises they made to us." Pak said the Bush administration's stipulation that it will talk with the North Koreans but not negotiate with them shows the United States is not sincere in its stance. President Bush's declaration last year calling North Korea part of an "axis of evil" and the delay of promised light-water reactors and heavy fuel oil represent violations by the United States of the Agreed Framework of 1994, under which North Korea consented to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Pak said. Although Pak called negotiations "the only way" to resolve the impasse, he said his country is prepared if they are not resolved. "Our people and our army are fully ready to defend our sovereignty and our right to existence under the leadership of our great leader, General Kim Jong Il," he said. The conclusion of the talks came two days after tensions with North Korea escalated sharply with its announcement it has withdrawn from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. The meetings began Thursday evening. Richardson said those talks lasted two hours and that Friday's session ran about five more hours. The talks were to have ended Friday, but they continued another two hours Saturday and ended with Richardson driving the North Koreans to the airport. Richardson in touch with PowellRichardson said he has been in close touch with Secretary of State Colin Powell, talking with him twice Saturday morning. Sources say Powell favors direct talks, but not negotiations, with North Korea. During such talks, Powell supports discussing a possible deal that would include a written U.S. assurance not to attack North Korea in exchange for a promise by North Korea to verifiably end its nuclear weapons program. Issues being debated among President Bush's national security advisers include whether to reaffirm a 2000 Clinton administration communique in which the United States said it had "no hostile intent" toward the communist state, a source said. But hard-liners in the White House say it is "inconceivable" -- in the words of one official -- that Bush would agree to that language. Sources tell CNN privately that Richardson was asked by Powell to test the waters with North Korean diplomats on whether a written U.S. security assurance might defuse the crisis.
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