A secret U.S. diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks has revealed that North Korea intended to exchange its nuclear weapons for the normalization of ties with the U.S. during the final phase of the three-step denuclearization process.
According to the cable, the North’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan explained the North’s aim during talks between nuclear envoys of the two Koreas in May 2008. At the time of the talks, Kim served as the North’s top nuclear negotiator.
The talks between Kim and then South Korea’s top nuclear envoy, Kim Sook, was held in Beijing and were the first talks of their kind to be held under the Lee Myung-bak administration. Kim's comments are interpreted as how North Korea wanted to run negotiations in the last stage of the denuclearization process after completing disablement and declaration in the second phase.
The diplomatic cable, dated June eleventh 2008, included contents written on June ninth 2008 by then U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow who summarized what he heard from Kim Sook on his talks with the North’s nuclear envoy in Beijing.
(KBS World Radio, Oct. 6 2011)
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