NEWS: US Held Secret Meeting With North Koreans in New York

The Associated Press has confirmed that U.S. officials met with North Korean officials in New York just last week in an attempt to bring North Korea back into the six-nation nuclear talks. U.S. officials still insist that this secret meeting was not a negotiation.



North Korea told Japanese press that it will have a response to the discussion in 'two weeks'.

The six-party nuclear treaty consists of United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and possibly North Korea. Russia has recently drastically reduced the number of nuclear warheads in their military arsenal in order to accommodate the six-party nuclear agreement.

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It seems to be just an assumption that they discussed resuming talks. It could just as well have been the US delivering an ultimatum, give up the nukes or we'll come get them.

The US policy is no face to face negotiations. This is possibly a way to get around it. Seems a reasonable thing to assume. I doubt that they'd get to the point where they need to deliver an ultimatum and not deliver it publically. I mean, imagine that the US goes to war with NK, everyone's like 'What the fudge?" and then the government state "We gave them an ultimatium, in secret, a while ago'. It wouldn't fly.

edit to add

You'd want that public hostility and anger building over 'those damned north koreans flaunting the ultimatum' etc etc, not bring it up when you are going to war.

[edit on 19-5-2005 by Nygdan]

You would think so, huh. I hope you're right but I'm not making any bets on what this administration might do. Whatever was said, the North Koreans are keeping tight lipped about it and have only said they'll 'respond' in two weeks.

Funny, but you don't usually 'respond' to negotiations, you 'respond' to questions or ultimatums...

came as concerns are mounting that the reclusive regime is moving toward extracting weapons-grade plutonium

Hmm they've been doing that in earnest since 2002. Some one is either uninformed or is trying to make the North Korean position look weaker than it is. Any attack on the North Koreans would be easier to get support for if you try to get people to believe they are at a stage BEFORE nuclear weapons. Thats just not the case with the North Koreans. Any war against them will be nuclear, have no illusions.

[edit on 19/5/05 by subz]

This was most definitely a part of the negotiating process. Indeed, ya DO respond to negotiations, that's what it's all about, but the Koreans wanted to take two weeks to internally discuss whatever the U.S.'s offer for food was all about.

IMO, anyways.

Zip

“This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate.”

The Bush administration does not negotiate with the North Koreans. They never made serious attempts to negotiate. They only pay lip service to negotiations whichthey see as only prolonging the regime.

Not negotiating is a form of negotiating.

They probably said, "listen, we'll give you 100,000 tons of rice monthly for guaranteeing that you will join and not suddenly abandon the 6-country nuclear agreement" or whatever.

Zip

Not negotiating is a form of negotiating.

lol thanks Zip, now my brain hurts

The North Koreans wont start coming round until the Agreed Framework is reinstated and thats just not something Bush will consider. The North Korean brinkmanship will continue and if a nuclear test will prick the ears of the Bush administration they will do that.

Giving them food will not stop that, security is higher on their agenda than food is. They still think air strikes are a possibility and I seem to agree with them.

Wonder if this has anything to do with NK's food shortage? Ya think?

They've had a food shortage since 92. Kim Jong Il eats quite well and so do the rest of his regime. Dont think food is a major carrot to these guys. The only thing they worry about is their national security.

[edit on 19/5/05 by subz]

“This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate.”

I agree NK needs to be stopped. But the Bush administration are monkeys. The only way to resolve a situation is if both sides can agree on something, not just one side enforce their views on the other. Jim Kong Il is a madman though, ahhhh! God damn it this situation is so crazy!

So, the administration doesn't have meetings and Bush is accused of not negotiating.

They have meetings and they're still accused of the same thing.

No one has any idea what went on there, but you still need to assume the worst to continue the partisan rhetoric.

subz, your bias is showing.

Originally posted by subz

“This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate.”

The Bush administration does not negotiate with the North Koreans. They never made serious attempts to negotiate. They only pay lip service to negotiations whichthey see as only prolonging the regime.

Phugedaboudet. your bias is also showing. Youre staunchly pro-Bush and dont accept anything bad being said about him. The difference between me and you though is that I dont mind if youre staunchly biased, I can deal with it

I know for a fact that the Bush administration does NOT negotiate with the North Koreans. There is fact upon fact and statment upon statement FROM Bush's administration that claims that to be true. They admit that they do not negotiate with the North Koreans.

The 6 party talks are a platfrom for the Americans to state their policy towards North Korea, nothing more. They dileberately include 6 nations in the talks because THEY KNOW they will not get a consensus from those nations, its just impossible.

Its hard enough to get a consensus between North and South Korea, let alone Russia and China and the United States!

You can be shown pure facts that SHOW Bush is doing something but you dismiss it out of hand because you know me to be anti-Bush. Hows that denying ignorance?

I can see it now:

President Bush: Im a sagitarius

subz: He's a sagitarius

Phugedaboudet: No he's not! B I A S

[edit on 20/5/05 by subz]

I would not exactly call it a secret meeting.....it just wasnt publicized at that time...however it's all over CNN now.

Any chance that the US is waiting for NK to acquire/build nuclear weapons? In the case of a war between the US and NK, I believe that the US's already overstretched military in Iraq just wouldn't cut it (if the US is still in Iraq at the time).Basically if the US attacks NK, personally I believe that the US will need nukes with the current situation in Iraq.

This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate.

Catch that policy part there? The new and improved version of the US's "Doctrine For Joint Nuclear Operations" states that the US won't nuke other countries as long as their not an imminent nuclear threat to the US.That means that until NK has officially confirmed it has nuclear weapons AND is reasonably able to attack the US with a nuke then the US can't really do much damage to NK. This meeting may have been just the US telling NK "The second you acquire a single nuclear bomb, we're going to nuke you with everything we've got." Of course this is just speculation.....


-Santos

NOTE: This is my first post on ATS *ever*, so be nice.

Welcome to ATS

The North Korean foreign minister has publically announced that the North Korean state has acquired nuclear weapons. Whether or not they have the missile systems to be a credible threat to the United States is another matter, but they do have nuclear weapons.

The North Korean foreign minister has publically announced that the North Korean state has acquired nuclear weapons. Whether or not they have the missile systems to be a credible threat to the United States is another matter, but they do have nuclear weapons.

Thank you, I wasn't sure. So I'm assuming that its whether NK has a sophisticated enough missile system now then, eh? I'm sorta glad i put AND is all caps in my post when discussing some of the requirements for the US nuking other countries.

Zipdot, now you've got me wondering.What makes you so sure that this was a part of a negotiating process?

-Santos

Originally posted by StillSearching
Thank you, I wasn't sure. So I'm assuming that its whether NK has a sophisticated enough missile system now then, eh? I'm sorta glad i put AND is all caps in my post when discussing some of the requirements for the US nuking other countries.

Youre welcome, I wrote a lengthy Op/Ed about North Korea's nuclear program a couple of days ago if youre interested.

From it:

It seemed that a diplomatic solution to this credible nuclear threat would not be forthcoming until April 2003 when Kelly and Pritchard were sent to Beijing to try and arrange multilateral talks. He was ordered not to talk to the North Koreans by himself and could only talk to them in the company of other delegates. During this visit Li Gun, the North Korean Foreign Minister, announced that North Korea had nuclear weapons as a "deterent".

The North Korean Nuclear Confrontation: A History of Efforts