Chief delegates of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue ended talks in Beijing on Saturday afternoon, or July 12. They agreed to establish verification and monitoring mechanisms for denuclearization, adopted guiding principles for the relevant mechanisms and formulated the timetable for remaining actions, thus mapping out a clear and distinct blueprint for an all-round implementation of the remaining actions of the second-phase talks.
The chief delegates restarted their talks after a nine-month suspension. The Sixth Session of the Second Phase of Six-party talks adopted a joint document, named the Second-phase Action of the Joint Statement, on October 3, 2007. Owing to differences between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States on the nuclear declaration issue, however, the Second-phase Action was postponed for almost half a year.
Thanks to close contact of the parties concerned and active maneuvering of the Chinese side, nevertheless, the DPRK finally handed over to China, the hosting nation, its nuclear declaration list on June 26 and, on the same day, the U.S. announced "to de-list the DPRK from the "sponsors of terrorism" and to advance "the process of terminating the application of the trading with the Enemy Act to the DPRK". On June 27, the DPRK blew up a cooling tower in its main nuclear reaction at Yongbyon. So, the meeting has been cited as a filling station for the implementation of the Second-Phase Action of the Joint Statement in an all-round way and a "turning point" for the six-party talks to embark on a new period.
When the six-party talks has entered into a period for carrying out the Joint Statement, the issues involved are turning increasingly complex and sensitive either from the technical realm or from the political realm, and the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities is such a case.
The six-party talks has, for the first time, established verification and monitoring mechanisms. The verification mechanism is composed of experts from the six nations, and the measures include visits to facilities, reviews of documents and interviews with technical personnel. The mechanism can also ask the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear regulator, to provide consultations and assistance for the relevant verification when necessary, with a very strong significance to technological operation.
The six parties also agreed to set up a monitoring mechanism, comprising the six top negotiators, to ensure that all nations fulfill their respective commitments for non-proliferation and economic and energy assistance to the DPRK, and they can also empower appropriate officials to perform their functions, who can be cited as the so-called most authoritative "working team". The timetable for remaining actions is ever more detailed and can permit slight "time differences" in compliance with varied concerns of all parties.
Under the timetable, the DPRK will work to complete the disablement of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities by the end of October, and the U.S. and Russia will provide the remaining heavy fuel oil (HFO) assistance to the DPRK by that time, while China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) will sign binding agreements with the DPRK for non-HFO assistance by the end of August, and Japan expressed its willingness to take part in the economic and energy assistance to the DPRK as soon as possible when the environment is in place.
The three-day heads of delegation meeting poses a critical turning point for the six-party talks, which serves as a link between the past and the future. The six parties once again reiterated that a meeting of foreign ministers will be held in Beijing at an appropriate time to raise the ranks of the diplomatics negotiations.
Moreover, the parties had an initial exchange of views on the third-phase action for the implementation of the Joint Statement of September 19, 2005 and uanimously agreed to spur the process of the six-party talks to work together for sustained peace and stability in Northeast Asia region. These lines reveal the sense of urgency to implement the second-phase action at an early date and to start placing the the new phase action into the main agenda.
The nuclear proliferation issue, including the DPRK nuclear issue, has become an international hot-spot, tough issue. Despite innumerable difficulties and obstacles it has encountered, the six-party talks had made a lot of innovative feats and improved varied mechanisms. The experience and lessons have provided a valuable reference to the settlement of similar disputes in the region and in the entire world at large. It is not hard to see that some existing hard issues should be given a right cure in the course of implementing the remaining actions of the second phase and it is still possible for new contradictions and complex factors to emerge in the new phase. But the parties concerned have come to realize that they can propel the six party talks, a sacred yet complex systematic project, to function normally and achieve an ultimate goal for permanent peace and security in the northeast Asia region, only when they keep up their high-degree of sincerity and firm resolve, and give scope to their sufficient patience and political wisdom.
By People's Daily Online and its author is PD reporter Cao Pengcheng
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