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Russia follows its own North Korean
agenda
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - The revelations of North Korea's
continued nuclear program have come as something of an
embarrassment for Moscow as they come at a time that the
Kremlin has pledged to restore ties with Pyongyang in an
effort to extract economic gains from projects on the
divided peninsula.
Following talks between
Russia and the US over North Korea's nuclear program,
Moscow reportedly shared Washington's concern at
Pyongyang's apparent violation of non-proliferation
accords. US Undersecretary of State John R Bolton had
talks with deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov,
Vladimir Rushailo, head of the Kremlin's Security
Council, and Nuclear Energy Minister Alexander
Rumyantsev.
The US administration has been keen
to win Russian support for a common diplomatic strategy,
along with China, South Korea and Japan, against North
Korea over its nuclear program. Washington is demanding
that North Korea "immediately and visibly dismantle its
nuclear program", State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher has said.
On October 21, Mamedov
announced after a meeting with Bolton that the US gave
"confidential information" to Russia over North Korea's
nuclear weapons program. However, the Kremlin expressed
a measure of skepticism and Russian officials indicated
that Moscow intended to check the information for itself
through diplomatic channels. On October 22, Bolton told
journalists in Moscow that the US put forward no
accusations against Russia relative to North Korea's
nuclear program. There are widespread reports that North
Korea received nuclear technology from Pakistan at the
end of the 1990s, via either China or Russia. Islamabad,
Beijing and Moscow deny this.
Russia has
promised to help in rebuilding North Korean enterprises
launched during the Soviet-era, including those in the
power sector, and subsequently Pyongyang was rumored to
have turned to Russia for assistance in the nuclear
sector. And in March 2002 there was talk about alleged
Russian plans to build a nuclear power station in North
Korea, although Russia's Nuclear Energy Ministry
dismissed the speculation.
Indeed, Moscow, aware
of widespread sensitivities about North Korea's nuclear
capabilities, has consistently dismissed allegations of
any involvement. On August 15, Russian deputy Foreign
Minister Aleksandr Losyukov stated that Russia and North
Korea were not engaged in any "concrete talks on
cooperation in nuclear power".
Officially,
Moscow says that it has tried to convince Pyongyang to
refrain from nuclear escapades. On October 23, Mamedov
told the South Korean ambassador in Moscow that Russia
supported "full realization of the 1994 framework
agreement", as well as major relevant international
treaties, notably the non-proliferation agreement,
according to the Russian official news agency RIA. North
Korea has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,
which commits nations to forswear developing or
spreading the technology to develop nuclear weapons, as
well as a 1994 accord in which it agreed to abandon any
nuclear ambitions in exchange for help with a civilian
nuclear-reactor program. The United States has said it
has proof that North Korea has broken both pledges by
trying to acquire sophisticated centrifuges used only to
purify uranium for nuclear bombs.
The Kremlin,
though, has conceded that Pyongyang might have something
to hide. On October 23, RIA commented on Pyongyang-Seoul
talks that "North Korea was yet to abandon its nuclear
program".
On the other hand, some Russian
officials tried to defuse fears over North Korea's
suspected nuclear weapons program. On October 21,
Rumyantsev told Ekho Moskvy Radio that he did not
believe that North Korea had manufactured nuclear
weapons. He conceded that Russia had an agreement on
"scientific and technical" matters, yet claimed that the
deal remained on paper.
Relations between Russia
and North Korea have been on the upturn recently. For
instance, earlier this month the Kremlin prided itself
for its role in helping arrange Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi's trip to North Korea. Moreover,
Russia has expressed interest in forming a six-party
forum comprising the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, China
and the United States to discuss North Korea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North
Korea in July 2000 to become the first Kremlin leader
ever to visit Pyongyang. Also in 2000, Moscow and
Pyongyang signed a new treaty to replace an outmoded
Soviet-era accord of 1961. In August 2001, Kim Jong-il
traveled 13,000 kilometers from Pyongyang to Moscow and
back on the Trans-Siberian railroad. On August 20-24
this year Kim undertook yet another rail trip to Russia
and expressed "1,000 percent" satisfaction with his
visit to Russia's far east.
These closer ties
arguably leave Russia vulnerable to accusations of
complicity in North Korean nuclear and missile
escapades. For instance, North Korea's missile arsenal
includes Soviet-made Luna-M tactical complexes and 30
Scud missiles, known as Nodong or Rodong in North Korea.
North Korea's Nodong missile is the weapon on which the
Iranian Shahab-3 missile and Pakistan's Ghauri, both
medium-range and nuclear capable, are based. During the
Gulf War, Iraq also employed Scud missiles, which can
carry conventional, chemical, biological or nuclear
warheads.
Moreover, it has been alleged that
North Korea produces enriched uranium in Iran in
exchange for upgrading Iranian missile weapons. These
allegations are notably embarrassing for Moscow, since
Russian scientists are working to complete the Bushehr
light-water nuclear reactor at a cost of $800 million in
Iran. It has been rumored that earlier this month US
officials told their Russian counterparts that if they
stopped nuclear ties with Iran, the Bush administration
would allow the import of spent nuclear fuel to Russia.
Rumyantsev has alleged that Russia could make up to $10
billion by storing and reprocessing radioactive
substances, but the scheme has to date been blocked by
the US.
Russia's self-serving relations with
axis of evil member states are reflected in Moscow's
reluctance to support the US on its tough anti-Iraq
stance. For instance, the Kremlin lashed out at the US
draft of a UN Security Council resolution on Iraq. The
American resolution did not fit the criteria that the
Russian side had laid out, Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov reportedly announced after meeting with the chief
UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, in Moscow earlier this
week.
Nevertheless, Moscow has been keen to
avoid accusations that it uses North Korea as a sort of
proxy nuclear state to serve its own interests in East
Asia. The issue of Pyongyang's nukes is supposed to be
discussed by the US and Russian presidents at an
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in
Mexico at the weekend. However, against a backdrop of an
unprecedented hostage crisis in Moscow - Chechen
guerillas stormed a Moscow theater on Wednesday and took
up to 600 hostages - it remains far from certain whether
the Kremlin will have time, or the inclination, to
tackle the issue.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co,
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