The year of 2004 sees slow progress in seeking a solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the key reason is the mistrust between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

A sticking point is that the DPRK says it is willing to resolve the nuclear issue through the six-party talks, but wants the United States to first change its hostile policy toward it. Washington insists the DPRK must accept a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear program.

Three rounds of six-party talks, participated by representatives from the DPRK, the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, have taken place in Beijing since August 2003.

Although some practical progress has been made, especially during the third round of talks held last June, which was praised by all the parties as "constructive," no breakthrough emerged on substantial issues.

During a visit to China in November, DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il reiterated Pyongyang's willingness to participate in the six-party talks and reaffirmed its continuous adherence to the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula.

However, the fourth round of talks, originally scheduled for September, failed to materialize, a failure blamed on the mistrust between the DPRK and the United States.

The DPRK says it is waiting for the United States to change its hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

"The meeting of the working group for the six-party talks cannot be opened because the US has become more undisguised in pursuing its hostile policy toward the DPRK, backtracking from all agreements and common understanding reached at the third round of the six-party talks," a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement in August.

The DPRK turned down the US "landmark proposal," put forward at the third round talks, saying it did not reflect the principle of "words for words" and "action for action" that Washington had promised to observe.

"In a word, the US proposal is, in its essence, a mode of forcing Libya to scrap its nuclear program first, a mode veiled with the word 'landmark,'" the official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying on July 24.

The US "landmark proposal" urges Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear program first while addressing its security concern, energy demand and the lifting of sanctions and blockage against it.

As a result, the DPRK and the United States relapsed into the quarrel of "US dropping the hostile policy first" or "DPRK's scrapping the nuclear program first," laying a stumble block in the way of the negotiations on the nuclear issue and making the fourth round of the six-party talks abortive.

In addition, the disclosure of secret nuclear-related experiments in South Korea in early September made the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula more complicated, and brought a new variable to the fourth round of talks.

Though South Korea, another party engaged in the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, failed to explain convincingly to the world, the United States rushed in a haste to plead Seoul's innocence.

The DPRK, assailing the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency of practicing "double standards," called for a thorough probe into South Korea's nuclear experiments as a precondition for and a priority topic at the fourth round of six-party talks.

Nevertheless, due to mistrust between Pyongyang and Washington as a result of their long confrontation, the six-party talks is still recognized by all parties as the only practical and effective format to settle the nuclear issue.

China, Russia, South Korea, the United States and Japan have all expressed their expectation on an earlier resumption of the six-party talks.

US President George W. Bush, in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Nov. 20 in Santiago on the sidelines of the12th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, promised that Washington would continue to advance the six-party talks for a peaceful solution of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Hu, for his part, told Bush that China champions a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue through dialogue so as to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula.

Calling on all parties concerned to show patience, flexibility and sincerity in resolving this issue, Hu promised that China will continue close coordination and cooperation with other parties to push for the early convocation of a new round of six-party talks.

On Dec. 10, US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the US position on the six-party talks is that it should resume as soon as possible.

While expressing its willingness to "settle the nuclear issue through DPRK-US bilateral negotiations," the DPRK clarified recently that it has neither

expected nor waited for, neither feels any need to ask nor tries to hold the DPRK-US bilateral talks, keeping an eye on the US firm stance on hostile policy.

After Bush's November reelection, the DPRK had expressed hope that the new US administration would make some changes of its hostile policy toward it. And how to respond to the DPRK's demand might be the first task Bush has to face in his second term.

Source: Xinhua