South Korea releases records of fierce 1990s nuclear talks
· UPIJune 30 (Asia Today) -- South Korea released thousands of pages of records Tuesday documenting intense exchanges between Seoul and Pyongyang during nuclear negotiations in the early 1990s, including delegates pounding tables, trading insults and mocking one another's appearance.
The Unification Ministry disclosed 3,836 pages covering 32 rounds of nuclear negotiations held from December 1991 through January 1993.
The documents include discussions that produced the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, an agreement establishing the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission and negotiations over inspection rules intended to verify denuclearization.
The release was the ministry's eighth disclosure of inter-Korean meeting documents since the program began in May 2022.
The records show that the two Koreas remained far apart over how nuclear inspections should be conducted.
South Korea announced the temporary suspension of the joint Team Spirit military exercise with the United States after the declaration was adopted. North Korea issued a statement accepting international nuclear inspections.
The negotiations ultimately collapsed, however, after the two sides failed to agree on the scope of inspections, verification rules and working-level procedures.
The documents also reveal the hostile language delegates used as they tried to force concessions from the other side.
Tensions emerged during the first round of talks on establishing and operating the nuclear control commission.
South Korea proposed quickly conducting trial inspections of facilities and locations designated by each side. North Korea instead demanded comprehensive inspections of what it described as U.S. nuclear weapons and nuclear bases in South Korea.
"It does not feel as though a new era has arrived," South Korean delegate Lim Dong-won said during one exchange.
"The feeling is mutual," North Korean delegate Choe U-jin replied.
Kim Yong-chol, then a deputy bureau director at North Korea's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, added, "We feel the same way because we are sitting across from people of the old era."
The confrontation intensified during the sixth round of contacts on organizing the commission.
After Choe sought to minimize the significance of the Yongbyon nuclear complex by saying North Korea had only "one small reactor," Lim struck the table.
"Someone who does not even know whether nuclear weapons exist or not," Lim said, using derogatory language toward his counterpart.
Choe then struck the table and responded, "Who do you think you are, pounding the table?"
Another incident occurred during the commission's 13th meeting on Dec. 17, 1992.
Gong Ro-myung, the South Korean delegation chief, handed Choe a photograph showing Soviet leader Josef Stalin and North Korean founder Kim Il Sung together.
Gong presented the image after North Korea accused South Korea of bringing the United States and other foreign powers into Korean Peninsula affairs.
Choe tore up the photograph, apparently without examining it closely.
"Why are you tearing up a photograph of your great leader?" Gong asked.
North Korean delegates then appeared to realize what had happened and accused the South of staging a "complete provocation."
"Did you plan this as a provocation?" they asked.
The records also show North Korean delegates making personal remarks about Gong's thinning hair. They suggested it could be harmful for him to go outside without a hat because his head would be exposed to the sun.
Jeong Seung-hoon, chairman of a preliminary review panel overseeing the document release, said South Korea appeared to have relied heavily on pressure during the negotiations.
"There is some regret over whether the North Korean nuclear problem could have been stopped at an early stage if incentives had also been used," Jeong said.
South Korea had proposed allowing each side to designate an inspection target 24 hours in advance, with the other side required to accept the inspection.
"That would have been difficult for North Korea to accept," Jeong said. "Even today, such an inspection method would not be easy."
The records illustrate how the two Koreas managed to produce a joint denuclearization declaration but failed to establish the inspection system needed to implement it.
-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260630010010632