North Korea demands preconditions for talks with South Korea

02/02/12: ABC News reports that  North Korea on Thursday demanded several tough preconditions for resuming talks with rival South Korea. South Korea quickly called the demands made in a statement by the Policy Department of the North's powerful National Defense Commission "unreasonable." But the timing of the statement, which follows comments Wednesday by a senior US diplomat that Washington is open to diplomacy if Pyongyang improves ties with Seoul, and the change in tone after weeks of refusal to talk with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak could signal a willingness to ease tensions.

01/22/12: JURIST reports that the UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights Marzuki Darusman called on the new leadership of North Korea to improve human rights concerns in their country. Darusman gave the statement at the end of an official visit to Japan where he met with North Korean defectors and Japanese officials engaged with North Korea. He said that he had gathered information including "numerous reports of a dire humanitarian situation, in particular the serious shortage of food, and the critical human rights situation" in North Korea.

01/14/12: WIRED reports that Kim Jong Il may be dead, but his legacy in North Korea lives on through the nuclear program he left behind. New satellite images now offer a more detailed view of the work that went into North Korea’s nuclear facilities in Kim’s final years. The satellite pictures and the simulated models based on them show that North Korea has made notable progress building out its uranium enrichment facilities and accompanying experimental light water reactor since 2009. That progress is noted in a new article by Siegfried Hecker, Robert Carlin and Niko Milonopoulos in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

01/11/12: ABC News reports that North Korea signaled Wednesday it remains open to suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for US food aid, a deal that appeared imminent before leader Kim Jong Il died last month. The North complained that the United States had "drastically" changed the amount and kind of aid it would send, but said officials would wait and "see if the United States has a willingness to establish confidence" with North Korea — which observers saw as Pyongyang's precondition for making the food-for-uranium-suspension deal happen.

01/02/12: The Houston Chronicle reports that South Korea's president opened the door Monday to possible nuclear talks with North Korea and warned the neighboring country to avoid any provocations, saying the Korean peninsula is at a crucial turning point. Lee Myung-bak's comments in a nationally televised speech come as the young son of the late Kim Jong Il takes power in North Korea as Supreme Commander of the military and ruling party leader after Kim's death last month. The North vowed Sunday in a New Year's message that it would bolster its military and defend the son, Kim Jong Un, "unto death."

12/30/11: CNN reports that a top US diplomat will travel to three nations around North Korea early next year in the first such talks since longtime leader Kim Jong Il's death, the State Department announced Thursday. Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell will "discuss a range of important bilateral, regional and global issues" during his four days in China, South Korea and Japan, the State Department said.

12/26/11: The Wall Street Journal reports that concerns over North Korea following the death of Kim Jong Il took center stage during a two-day visit by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to China, while the two sides steered clear of sensitive topics such as territorial disputes. In the first visit by a national leader to Beijing since the unexpected news of Kim's death last week, Noda agreed with Chinese leaders on the need to coax Pyongyang back into regional security talks. Peace and stability in the region are "a wide expectation held by the international community," Chinese President Hu Jintao told Noda in their meeting Monday.

12/26/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that in a grass-roots movement far from the top government halls of power, many South Koreans are calling for renewed ties with Pyongyang in the aftermath of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death. As the North's main newspaper on Monday heaped more titles on Kim's chosen successor, son Kim Jong Un, this time as head of the ruling party's key body, South Korea offered new olive branches toward more open relations. South Korea's attitude change has as much do with new blood in Seoul as it does in Pyongyang.

12/22/11: The New York Times features an opinion piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof.  Kristof describes his experiences in North Korea over the past twenty years, including how loudspeakers affixed in each North Korean home underscore that it is not just another dictatorship but, perhaps, the most totalitarian country ever. In light of Kim Jong Il's recent death, Kristof argues that isolating North Korea is not the answer. Instead, Kristof proposes taking advantage of the leadership transition to try a dose of outreach. "If we can inch toward diplomatic relations, trade and people-to-people exchanges, we’re not rewarding a monstrous regime," he says, "we just might be digging its grave."

12/21/11: The New York Times reports that the United States and South Korea made cautious overtures toward North Korea on Wednesday as Kim Jong-un, thrust into the international spotlight following the death of his father moved swiftly to tighten internal security and rally support from the hard-line military.The allies’ desire not to provoke North Korea and to see a stable transition of power in Pyongyang was underlined on Wednesday when the government in Seoul allowed private organizations and individuals to send their condolences over the death of Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader whose death was announced on Monday.

12/20/11: The New York Times features an editorial by Victor Cha concerning the implications of the death of Kim Jong Il. Cha contends North Korea as we know it is over. Whether it comes apart in the next few weeks or over several months, the regime will not be able to hold together after the untimely death of its leader, Kim Jong-il. How America responds — and, perhaps even more important, how America responds to how China responds — will determine whether the region moves toward greater stability or falls into conflict.

12/19/11: Reuters reports that the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il could dim hopes for fresh nuclear disarmament talks with the United States and its key Asian allies as an untested and largely unknown heir takes charge of one of the world's most feared atomic renegade states. The most crucial immediate question for Washington, and close ally Seoul, is whether Kim's hermetic state can survive his death and complete a power transition to his youngest son Kim Jong-un, named by state news agency KCNA as the "Great Successor" to his father.

10/24/11: Time reports that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday lashed out at North Korea for “reckless and provocative” acts and criticized China for a secretive expansion of its military power. Panetta spoke out about North Korea and China in an opinion piece published Monday by Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper before his arrival at a US air base on the second leg of a weeklong Asia tour. Panetta’s strong language comes as US and North Korean officials gather in Geneva for talks that Washington says are aimed at determining whether Pyongyang is serious about returning to nuclear disarmament talks.

10/23/11: The Sacramento Bee reports that US diplomats arrived in Geneva on Sunday for talks with North Korean officials about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the second direct encounter between the two sides in less than three months. American officials say the "exploratory" meeting is aimed at keeping North Korea engaged in discussions but a step short of formal negotiations. The US wants North Korea to adhere to a 2005 agreement it later reneged on requiring verifiable denuclearization in exchange for better relations with its Asian neighbors.

10/17/11: Reuters reports that North Korea and the United States will hold a second round of talks in Geneva next week to discuss ways to restart regional talks on disabling North Korea's nuclear weapons program, South Korean media reported Monday. Yonhap news agency quoted a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying that the two sides would meet in Geneva, possibly on October 26, amid recent diplomatic activity which has seen the secretive state brought in from the cold.

10/12/11: The Washington Post reports that a senior North Korean ruling party official will travel to the United States next week for talks with South Korean lawmakers and US legislative aides meant to help resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff. The informal three-day academic forum in Georgia, which begins Monday, comes as diplomats struggle to restart long-stalled international negotiations aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

09/21/11: Newser reports that representatives of North and South Korea met Wednesday, but showed no sign of bridging their differences to resume negotiations on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program after it walked out two years ago. Seoul's main nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac and his counterpart Ri Yong Ho both described their rare meeting as constructive after emerging from the private Chang An Club in central Beijing. But although Wi said the contacts would continue, neither side gave any details and Ri appeared to say North Korea would not make any concessions to get the talks going again.

07/28/11: The Washington Post reports that North Korea demanded Wednesday that the United States sign a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, as a senior North Korean diplomat visited New York to negotiate ways to restart six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. In an editorial marking the 58th anniversary of an armistice that ended the 1950-53 war, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency insisted a peace treaty could go a long way toward resolving a deadlock over Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

07/24/11: The Miami Herald reports that the United States has invited a top North Korean official to New York to talk about the next steps necessary to resume the long-stalled six-nation discussions aimed at ridding the North of its nuclear programs. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Sunday that North Korean Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan will meet this week with a team of US officials to explore his country's commitment to return to the so-called Six Party Talks and take concrete steps toward disarmament.

04/28/11: CNN reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ready for a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at any time. The news comes via Jimmy Carter, who just returned from a trip to Pyongyang. Carter did not personally meet with Kim, but he said that as he and his delegation of former heads of state were on the way to Pyongyang airport to depart for South Korea, they were summoned back to their guesthouse, where a senior official read out a written message from the reclusive leader.

04/24/11: The Miami Herald reports that ex-US President Jimmy Carter and three other former leaders arrived in Beijing on Sunday en route to North Korea to discuss the revival of nuclear disarmament talks. Carter and the group of veteran statesmen known as the Elders are to travel to Pyongyang on Tuesday as part of international efforts to restart the negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear program. The group, which includes former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson, said it also plans to discuss North Korea's chronic food shortages.

04/16/11: The Washington Post reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in South Korea to discuss the effort to get North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks. Clinton arrived in Seoul on Saturday and was to see South Korea’s foreign minister before meeting the country’s president early Sunday. She will then travel to Japan to show US support for the Japanese people who are recovering from a major earthquake and tsunami as well as strong aftershocks.

03/30/11: USA Today reports that North Korean officials sounded upbeat Wednesday after three days of talks in Germany with former US officials on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and disputes between the two nations. The six-person North Korean contingent was led by Ri Gun, the director general of the North American affairs bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his deputy Choe Son Hui. Prior to flying home, Ri told reporters the meetings had been "honest and sincere exchanges" and that they had "agreed to achieve our common goal through communication."

02/01/11: The Washington Post reports that a confidential report from a panel of United Nations experts suggests that North Korea may have additional secret nuclear facilities. The report, prepared for the UN Security Council, reinforces a widely held belief within the Obama administration that North Korea has constructed a network of nuclear sites beyond its Yongbyon plant, which US nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker visited in November. The report could also lead to calls for tighter pressure against Pyongyang, which already faces UN sanctions designed to choke its nuclear arms program.

12/14/10: The New York Times reports that the Obama administration has concluded that North Korea’s new plant to enrich nuclear fuel uses technology that is “significantly more advanced” than what Iran has struggled over two decades to assemble, according to senior administration and intelligence officials.

12/06/10: The Washington Post reports that the United States has stepped up diplomatic pressure on China by accusing its leaders of "enabling" North Korea to start a uranium-enrichment program and to launch attacks on South Korea. In response to the North Korean moves and apparent Chinese acquiescence, Washington is moving to redefine its relationship with South Korea and Japan, potentially creating an anti-China bloc in Northeast Asia that officials say they don't want but may need.

11/22/10: The Financial Times reports that South Korea may ask the US to redeploy nuclear weapons in the country after North Korea unveiled a previously secret uranium enrichment facility. Breaking a significant taboo, Kim Tae-young, the South Korean defence minister, told parliament that Seoul would discuss redeploying US nuclear weapons, which were removed from the country in 1991, with a US-South Korean defence committee.

11/21/10: The Miami Herald reports that the Obama administration's special envoy on North Korea plans to visit South Korea, Japan and China as fears rise that North Korea is ramping up its nuclear program. Stephen Bosworth's trip comes as new satellite images show construction under way at North Korea's main atomic complex. That, combined with reports from two American experts who recently traveled to the Yongbyon complex, appear to show that Pyongyang is making good on its pledge to build a nuclear power reactor.

09/16/10: CNN reports that North Korea on Thursday proposed working-level military talks with South Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported. The North's request could signal further easing of cross-border tensions, but South Korea reacted skeptically to the complex proposed agenda. Pyongyang asked to discuss the two countries' de facto sea border on the west coast. North Korea wants the border, known as the Northern Limit Line, redrawn farther south. Deadly naval clashes between North and South took place along the Northern Limit Line in 1999, 2002 and 2009. North Korea also wants to discuss a South Korean plan to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North, in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. South Korea has since deferred the leaflet plan.

08/20/09: The Wall Street Journal Reports that a delegation of North Korean diplomats told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Pyongyang was prepared for expansive disarmament talks with the Obama administration, but wants to talk directly instead of in the multicountry format Washington prefers.

08/20/09: The New York Times reports that The South Korean government has agreed to allow North Korean diplomats to travel to Seoul on Friday to bring a funeral wreath for the former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung.

08/19/09: The Miami Herald reports that two North Korean diplomats are in Santa Fe and will meet with Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday. A spokesman for Richardson said a delegation from the North Korean mission to the United Nations will meet at the governor's mansion for a daylong meeting but the topic was not disclosed.

08/17/09: The Financial Times reports that North Korea has struck a deal to revive South Korean tourism and factory investment in its territory, seeking hard currency while under increasingly effective UN sanctions. In a further sign of rapprochement after months of military brinkmanship, Pyongyang also agreed to resume cross-border meetings of families divided by the Korean War of 1950-1953.

08/17/09: The Washington Times reports that North Korea says its military will be on "special alert" because of South Korea's joint military drills with the United States. The North's army said its troops would go on "a special alert" starting Monday, when South Korean and US militaries planned to start annual computer-simulated war games.

08/13/09: The Financial Times reports that North Korea on Thursday freed a South Korean worker detained there since March, supporting the view that Pyongyang has entered a phase of bargaining with the international community after months of sabre-rattling. South Korea’s unification ministry confirmed the release of Yu Seong-jin, an employee of Hyundai Asan, a South Korean company with business interests in the North. Pyongyang accused him of slandering North Korea’s political system and encouraging a woman to defect.

Thread: North Korea nuclear threat and diplomacy