It's interesting to see that Kerry has already impacted foreign affairs by directly causing the stall in negotions with NorK's.
U.S. says North Korea "miscalculating"
Swiss Info | Tuesday 12.10.2004 | Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States has accused North Korea of miscalculation by refusing to resume talks on its nuclear programmes before the U.S. presidential election while China renewed a diplomatic drive to end the stalemate.
Beijing has played host to three rounds of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. At the last round in June, China, the United States, Russia, Japan and North and Suth Korea agreed to meet in September, but those talks never took place.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a good crystal ball regarding North Korea. But it appears that since we've only got 22 days I think until our election, that the North Koreans don't have much interest in holding talks before then," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told reporters on Tuesday.
"I think this is a miscalculation on their part," Armitage said during a two-day visit to meet Japanese officials and attend an international donors' conference on Iraq.
Analysts say Pyongyang is stalling to see who wins the U.S. presidential election on November 2 because it believes the Democratic contender, Senator John Kerry, will be easier to deal with than President George W. Bush.
Kerry has said he would like to initiate bilateral talks with North Korea alongside the six-way discussions. China has voiced no view on that position.
Taking up the diplomatic baton, China announced on Tuesday that North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, would visit next week and that Beijing's special envoy for Korean affairs would tour "relevant countries" to push for a new round of talks.
North Korea said on Friday it wanted bilateral nuclear talks with the United States but would rejoin stalled six-party meetings at once if Washington dropped its "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang.
The nuclear crisis began in October 2002 when U.S. officials said North Korea had admitted to pursuing a secret uranium-enrichment programme.
FLURRY OF VISITS
North Korea now denies having such a programme, and has demanded energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return for freezing an older, plutonium-based nuclear arms programme.
Armitage met officials including Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi, and the two sides agreed to continue to urge North Korea to take part in six-way talks without preconditions, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
Kim, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's parliament, is the most senior official from Pyongyang to visit China since the reclusive country's top leader, Kim Jong-il, toured in April.
During the October 18-20 visit, Kim will meet Chinese leaders to "exchange views on some issues in bilateral relations", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference without elaborating.
The visit will be officially to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of relations.
In addition to the nuclear crisis, analysts expect economic cooperation to be a key topic. China has been trying for years to coax its secretive neighbour to reform and open its command economy, following in Chinese footsteps.
China's special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs will make a two-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday for talks on resuming the stalled six-way talks, and would then visit the United States and Japan, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, quoting the South Korean foreign ministry.
U.S. says North Korea "miscalculating"
Swiss Info | Tuesday 12.10.2004 | Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States has accused North Korea of miscalculation by refusing to resume talks on its nuclear programmes before the U.S. presidential election while China renewed a diplomatic drive to end the stalemate.
Beijing has played host to three rounds of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. At the last round in June, China, the United States, Russia, Japan and North and Suth Korea agreed to meet in September, but those talks never took place.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a good crystal ball regarding North Korea. But it appears that since we've only got 22 days I think until our election, that the North Koreans don't have much interest in holding talks before then," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told reporters on Tuesday.
"I think this is a miscalculation on their part," Armitage said during a two-day visit to meet Japanese officials and attend an international donors' conference on Iraq.
Analysts say Pyongyang is stalling to see who wins the U.S. presidential election on November 2 because it believes the Democratic contender, Senator John Kerry, will be easier to deal with than President George W. Bush.
Kerry has said he would like to initiate bilateral talks with North Korea alongside the six-way discussions. China has voiced no view on that position.
Taking up the diplomatic baton, China announced on Tuesday that North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, would visit next week and that Beijing's special envoy for Korean affairs would tour "relevant countries" to push for a new round of talks.
North Korea said on Friday it wanted bilateral nuclear talks with the United States but would rejoin stalled six-party meetings at once if Washington dropped its "hostile policy" towards Pyongyang.
The nuclear crisis began in October 2002 when U.S. officials said North Korea had admitted to pursuing a secret uranium-enrichment programme.
FLURRY OF VISITS
North Korea now denies having such a programme, and has demanded energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return for freezing an older, plutonium-based nuclear arms programme.
Armitage met officials including Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi, and the two sides agreed to continue to urge North Korea to take part in six-way talks without preconditions, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
Kim, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's parliament, is the most senior official from Pyongyang to visit China since the reclusive country's top leader, Kim Jong-il, toured in April.
During the October 18-20 visit, Kim will meet Chinese leaders to "exchange views on some issues in bilateral relations", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference without elaborating.
The visit will be officially to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of relations.
In addition to the nuclear crisis, analysts expect economic cooperation to be a key topic. China has been trying for years to coax its secretive neighbour to reform and open its command economy, following in Chinese footsteps.
China's special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs will make a two-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday for talks on resuming the stalled six-way talks, and would then visit the United States and Japan, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, quoting the South Korean foreign ministry.
