N. Korea Shifts Stance on Discussing Nuclear Arms By JAMES BROOKE
SEOUL, South Korea, April 12 — In a policy shift, North Korea said today that it would negotiate its nuclear program without sticking "to any particular dialogue format" if the United States changed its stance on the issue.
The new policy signals an end to a six-month insistence on two-way talks with the United States, and comes days after the fall of Iraq's government, a part, along with Iran and North Korea, of what President Bush has called an "axis of evil."
Ever since a Bush administration envoy confronted the North Koreans last October with evidence that they were pursuing a secret nuclear-bomb-making program, the United States has insisted that negotiations over the threat involve North Korea's neighbors — China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
Today, KCNA, the North Korean Central News Agency, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang, the capital, as saying that if the United States was "ready to make a bold switchover in its Korea policy for a settlement of the nuclear issue," then North Korea would "not stick to any particular dialogue format."
To analysts of political discourse in the isolated nation, this indicated that North Korea was moving away from insisting on one-on-one talks with the United States.
"North Korea seems to be saying they are ready to try a multilateral format," said Scott Snyder, author of "Negotiating on the Edge," about North Korean negotiating tactics. "The problem is that, given the mood of the moment, can the Bush administration take yes for an answer?"
In Washington, officials did not seem aware of the statement, which was not surprising given its timing. However, a senior White House official said last week that pressure had been exerted on North Korea through the Chinese, among others, and the administration had expected, because China is the largest aid provider to North Korea, that the government of Kim Jong Il would be likely to respond.
However, as recently as Friday, American officials said there was still activity at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, although no evidence that North Korea had yet begun converting its 8,000 nuclear fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium.
North Korea's shift may be a result of such diplomatic pressure from both Russia and China. On Wednesday, both nations, historic allies of North Korea, blocked the adoption in the United Nations Security Council of any statement critical of North Korea's nuclear program.
But on Friday, a top Russian official said that Moscow would reconsider its longstanding policy of opposing international sanctions against North Korea if it developed nuclear arms.
The announcement comes as South Korea's new president, Roh Moo Hyun, prepares for a series of trips to countries concerned about North Korea's nuclear program.
With the Iraq war drawing to a conclusion far faster than many people here expected, President Roh is advancing his trip to Washington by 10 days, arriving there in mid-May. After visiting the United States, he plans to travel to China, Russia and Japan, he announced today.
North Korea is "petrified" by the rapid American victory in Iraq, Mr. Roh said Friday in an interview with The Washington Post.
In a nation littered with statues of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, there have been daily references in the news media to the attack on Saddam Hussein's government.
"The United States' sinister design is not in inspections themselves but in using them to spread rumors of weapons of mass destruction and find an excuse for armed intervention," North Korea's state-run TV said on Friday.
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