A positive sign

ElBaradei's North Korea visit hinted at a bright future. North Korea's invitation to ElBaradei was its first positive move since it withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in January 2003. When ElBaradei finished his tour, he stated that this visit opened the door to the normalization of relations between the agency and North Korea.

North Korea said it was willing to cooperate with the IAEA, and shut its nuclear plant at Yongbyon. ElBaradei stressed that some misunderstandings between the agency and North Korea had been erased. He noted that North Korea would like to keep its promise of nuclear abandonment once its frozen funds at a Macao bank are fully released. Moreover, North Korea will permit IAEA inspectors to return the country.

The United States also regarded North Korea's invitation to ElBaradei as a positive sign, an indication that North Korea is willing to start enforcing the agreement signed during the six-party talks. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said ElBaradei's North Korea visit was a "good signal" and the United States was "very happy" about it.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Kim Kye Gwan, the top North Korean negotiator, held discussions in New York on the normalization of the two countries' relationship on March 5-6, which was an important bilateral meeting between them outside of the six-party talks framework. It also was the most important diplomatic contact since the implementation of the "initial actions" plan began. In short, this marked the breaking of the ice in U.S.-North Korea relations.

During this meeting, the two sides talked about how to launch the agreement, remove the economic sanctions on North Korea and delete North Korea's name from the U.S. list of countries supporting terrorism. They also exchanged ideas on the political and legislative issues related to the normalization of U.S.-North Korean ties.

Both said they were optimistic and satisfied with this meeting, because the two sides showed sincerity in cooperation and gave constructive opinions. Although the achievements of the meeting were limited, it provides a positive influence on the normalization of bilateral relations and could shorten the complicated process.

The negotiations between North Korea and Japan did not go smoothly. At their meeting on March 7, they discussed historical problems and war compensation, but they had totally different views on the issue of Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korea, and the discussion was terminated. Japan insisted that the normalization of relations with North Korea should not be considered until the kidnapping issue is resolved, but the North Korean side believed that the issue had already been resolved, and that the most urgent matter was to resolve historical problems, including the issue of North Korean women who were forced to serve as "comfort women," or sex slaves, for the Japanese Army during World War II. This meeting showed that there is a difficult and complicated path ahead.