Analysis: Debate on North Korea continues

SEOUL, May 14 (UPI) -- Scholars from the United States and South Korea gathered in Seoul Monday to discuss ways to repair relations between the two countries and break an impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

At the Seoul-Washington Forum, participants debated how to end the North's nuclear drive, but there was a sense of growing pessimism about the recent multilateral deal on disarming the defiant communist country.

"We are still in the structural dilemma or frustration of allowing North Korea to increase its plutonium stock for weapons, since the Feb. 13 Initial Actions Agreement has not been implemented," said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea expert at Seoul's private Sejong Institute. It jointly hosted the two-day forum with the Brookings Institution.

"No country has any meaningful control mechanism over North Korea's nuclear activities or behaviors, causing the dilemma of merely watching the continuous accumulation of plutonium," he said, calling for Washington to do more to break the impasse.

Under the Feb. 13 agreement, Pyongyang was to shut down its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon and invite back U.N. nuclear inspectors by April 14 in return for energy aid and security guarantees.

But the country has refused to implement its nuclear disarmament obligations, complaining its assets held by a Macao-based bank have yet to be released -- and raising doubts about the hard-won disarmament process on the Korean peninsula.

Banco Delta Asia froze the $25 million after the U.S. Treasury accused it of laundering money Pyongyang pockets through illicit financial activities. North Korea has said it would not take disarmament steps before confirming the transfer of funds.

By transferring the funds to another offshore bank, the North wants to see the money accepted internationally and to keep using the international banking system to manage its overseas funds. But foreign banks have refused to handle North Korea's funds at the BDA for fear that it would downgrade their credibility.

The United States should "resolve the BDA issue at the earliest possible time by applying a 'political' approach by President Bush," Paik said.

He also asked for an inter-Korean summit to reach a breakthrough in the years-long nuclear standoff, which could pave the way for summit talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

Paik's call for summit talks comes at a time when South Korea is pushing for a four-nation peace summit involving the two Koreas, the United States and China to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear drive and a peace settlement on the peninsula, which remains technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's special adviser and former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan have traveled to the United States to explore the idea of holding a four-party peace summit.

Roh's aides are reportedly seeking to stage the four-party summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Australia in September.

James Kelly, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, backed Seoul's push for talks with the North as necessary to resolve the nuclear issue but said Seoul's projects should not be "conduits for cash or other subsidies."

"North Korea is trying to convince, and some of its leaders may believe this, that possessing nuclear weapons is protection from an attack by the United States," said Kelly, currently a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

He called for stronger ties between Seoul and Washington to press the North to give up its nuclear option.

"Neither country should consider accepting North Korea's weapons of mass destruction. Determination and patience should be polices of both ROK (South Korea) and the United States in seeking fulfillment" of the Feb. 13 deal, Kelly said at the forum.

Robert Einhorn, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, also said solidarity between Seoul and Washington and the other three countries involved in the six-party talks -- Japan, China and Russia -- is key to the North's denuclearization.

"The key question remains whether North Korea is genuinely prepared to give up nuclear weapons," he said. "Seeking to implement the Feb. 13 agreement will be a frustrating and politically uncomfortable experience with an uncertain outcome," Einhorn said.