U.S. offers North Korea energy, security guarantee for giving up nuclear program

BEIJING (AP) - U.S. negotiators presented the first detailed American proposal Wednesday on resolving the standoff with North Korea, offering the North energy aid and a security guarantee in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program.

The proposal is meant to break an impasse in talks that began their third round after earlier negotiations brought no progress on Washington's demand for the North to scrap its nuclear program.

The step-by-step plan would begin with Pyongyang freezing its nuclear program for a three-month period to prepare for dismantling, during which it would list all nuclear activities and allow monitoring of its facilities, U.S. officials said.

North Korea didn't immediately reply to the seven-page proposal presented during the opening session of the third round of talks at a Chinese government guesthouse, the officials said.

The North's envoy, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, said earlier that Pyongyang was willing to renounce nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and an end to Washington's "hostile policy."

"What we will be presenting is a practical series of steps to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, traveling with President Bush in Philadelphia.

"One way to look at this is to look at the Libya model: Good faith action on North Korea's part will be met with good-faith response by the other parties," he said.

It is the first detailed U.S. offer to North Korea since President Bush took office and lumped it into an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq.

South Korea said it would provide fuel for the North once it declares the freeze. But the timetable for any benefits the North might receive for each stage of the process still must be worked out, the U.S. officials said.

Under the proposal, the United States and the other four nations participating in the talks - South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States - would give North Korea "provisional security guarantees" while the nuclear dismantling work is carried out, according to the American officials.

North Korea has insisted that without such a guarantee, it must keep its nuclear program to deter a possible U.S. attack.

"First you would have to have North Korea commit to the dismantlement of its nuclear program," McClellan said. Then the two sides would agree to "a detailed implementation plan."

The plan would include the supervised disabling and dismantling of "all nuclear-related facilities and materials," and the removal of all weapons components, including centrifuges, fissile material and fuel rods, followed by a "long-term monitoring program," he said.

He said North Korea would get tangible benefits in return.

"We would work to take steps to ease their political and economic isolation," McClellan said. "There would be provisional or temporary proposals that would only lead to lasting benefits after North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs."

The help could include the resumption of oil shipments from countries other than the United States, McClellan said. He didn't know whether it could include food or cash.

The dispute erupted in late 2002 when Washington said North Korea admitted operating a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 agreement. Under that deal, the United States was providing the North with fuel and helping build nuclear reactors for energy production - help that has since been halted.

Under the new U.S. proposal, Washington wouldn't directly supply the power-starved North with energy aid, the U.S. officials said.

But South Korea said Wednesday it was prepared to provide fuel oil.

"If North Korea starts freezing its nuclear program under the conditions that we proposed, we, South Korea, will participate in providing North Korea with heavy oil," said South Korea's chief delegate to the Beijing talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck.

U.S. officials say any agreement must cover all nuclear programs in the North. Pyongyang has denied U.S. claims that it has a nuclear program based on uranium, in addition to its disclosed plutonium-based program.

Kim, the North's envoy, said its efforts to possess nuclear arms were "intended to protect ourselves" from the threat of a U.S. nuclear attack.

"Therefore, if the United States gives up its hostile policy toward us ... we are prepared to give up in a transparent way all plans related to nuclear weapons," he said.

But North Korea also demanded that Washington withdraw its call for a complete and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear program, casting doubt on hopes for a breakthrough during the talks.

Kim also said the United States must accept the North's demand for aid in exchange for a nuclear freeze. If Washington agrees to both points, "we are prepared to submit specific proposals concerning freezing the nuclear program," Kim said.

He gave no details, however, of how the secretive North's renunciation of nuclear weapons would be transparent, or whether that might involve international inspections.

The U.S. delegate to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, urged the North to seek a resolution, saying that would "open the door to a new relationship" between Washington and Pyongyang. He said there would be "new political, economic and diplomatic possibilities."