N. Korea May Scrap Nuclear Test If U.S. Agrees To Talks
Posted October 8, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As Asian leaders gather to discuss the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test, there’s word the communist nation will apparently scrap those plans if the United States agrees to hold talks with the isolated regime.
An unidentified Chinese diplomat spoke to North Korean officials Sunday, according to former South Korean lawmaker Jang Sung-min, and said the secretive country denied that a nuclear test was imminent. There was widespread speculation that North Korea planned to carry out the controversial test Sunday.
Jang, who currently heads a think-tank in Seoul and is active in North Asian affairs, also said the North told China it may drop its plan to test its first atomic bomb if the Americans agree to bilateral talks.
If the United States refuses and moves ahead with either sanctions or military efforts, North Korea reportedly plans to accelerate its nuclear ambitions, Jang said. The Americans have repeatedly denied that they intend to invade the communist nation.
Meanwhile, despite strained relations between Japan and China over the past few years, leaders of the two countries sat down this weekend to discuss the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in Beijing Sunday at the first summit between the two countries in five years. Abe will also meet with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday.
“North Korea must not conduct nuclear tests,” Abe said before leaving for the summit. “We need to transmit a message to North Korea that unless it revokes its test plans, it will face further isolation from international society and its situation will deteriorate.”
If North Korea goes ahead with the tests, Japan has said it’s ready to push for strict punitive measures against the isolated state at the United Nations. Japan stepped up trade restrictions in July after North Korea test-fired seven missiles into the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
On Friday the international body issued a warning to the North to abandon its nuclear plans.
