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NEWS BRIEFS
U.S.-North Korean Dialogue Continues
Slovakia Begins Dismantling SS-23s
CD Resumes 2000 Negotiating Session
UN Imposes Arms Embargo on Ethiopia and Eritrea
U.S.-North Korean Dialogue Continues
On the eve of a historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea continued this month, with no promise of major developments. Ambassador Charles Kartman led a delegation to Rome to meet his North Korean counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, May 24 in the first meeting of the two negotiators since talks adjourned March 15 without agreement on a high-level North Korean visit to Washington.
Slated for discussion were issues surrounding implementation of the 1994 Agreed Framework, preparations for a new round of talks on the North Korean missile program, and efforts to improve the U.S.-North Korea bilateral relationship. Although State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said May 30 that the sides had "made progress," the State Department announced no breakthroughs on a high-level visit, North Korea's status on the list of states that sponsor terrorism, or missile issues. North Korea has stated that it will not visit Washington while still on the terrorism list. (See ACT, April 2000.)
While discussions continue about the future of the Agreed Framework, an inspection team from the United States visited North Korea to inspect the suspected nuclear site at Kumchang-ni. The team, which inspected the site from May 25 to 27, "found conditions unchanged since the first visit a year ago in May 1999," Reeker explained. The May 1999 inspection showed no signs that North Korea had violated the 1994 agreement. (See ACT, April/May 1999.) North Korea has designated the site "an unspecified national security related facility," Reeker said.
Slovakia Begins Dismantling SS-23s
In a move Slovak officials have termed a sign of goodwill to the West, Slovakia began scrapping its technologically defunct SS-23 missiles in mid-May. Under the auspices of a memorandum signed in late April, the United States will provide approximately $385,000 to finance the destruction of the six remaining SS-23s and two remaining mobile launchers, an operation that is expected to be concluded by October.
The SS-23 has a range of 400 to 500 kilometers and is capable of carrying a nuclear payload. Slovakia acquired its SS-23s following the 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which had received the missiles from the Soviet Union. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary all liquidated their SS-23 systems years ago. The Soviet Union dismantled all its SS-23s under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated all ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The Slovak SS-23s reached the end of their service lives in 1998, but Slovakia did not have the financial resources to dispose of the missiles.
Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan told U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright of the plan to scrap the missiles during a visit to Washington in late April. Kukan also reiterated Slovakia's desire to join NATO, a goal that Albright assured Kukan would receive full U.S. support. Slovakia joined nine Central and Eastern European countries May 19 to lobby collectively for admission to NATO.
CD Resumes 2000 Negotiating Session
The 66-member UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) resumed plenary meetings May 25, only days after the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference issued a call for the CD to negotiate and conclude a ban on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons within five years. While the CD's outgoing president said there appeared to be a new window of opportunity following the NPT review conference, an agreement on a work program to start negotiations was not yet possible.
Since mid-1999, the key hurdle to negotiations within the CD, which operates by consensus, has been disagreement between China and the United States over negotiations on the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Though supporting negotiations on a fissile material cutoff, China has refused to let any CD negotiations start without a work program agreement that includes outer space. While indicating a willingness to hold informal CD discussions on outer space, Washington has singularly opposed formal outer space negotiations and has pushed for starting fissile material cutoff negotiations even without a comprehensive work program agreement.
But in a May 1 statement to the NPT review conference, all five nuclear-weapon states urged the CD to agree "as soon as possible" on a work program that includes a fissile material cutoff treaty. In effect, the United States, according to a senior U.S. official, "recognized the reality of the CD linkage" between a work program agreement and fissile material cutoff negotiations. This recognition helped win a fully agreed statement from the five nuclear-weapon states and a successful NPT review conference, explained the official. How the CD will address the outer space issue remains unresolved.
The CD's current working session will end July 7, and its final working period for the year will take place from August 7 to September 22. In both 1997 and 1999, the conference was unable to start negotiations.
UN Imposes Arms Embargo on Ethiopia and Eritrea
Days after Ethiopia launched a military offensive against Eritrea, the UN Security Council on May 17 unanimously approved an arms embargo on the two African states, which have been fighting intermittently since May 1998 over disputed borders. The embargo will be limited to 12 months, though it can be renewed by the Security Council or ended immediately once the UN secretary-general declares a peace settlement has been reached.
Sponsored by the United States, the embargo proscribes the sale or supply of arms, ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, and paramilitary equipment to both countries. Training, technical assistance, and the supply of spare parts associated with the prohibited items are also forbidden. The embargo applies to future deals, as well as agreements concluded prior to the UN action. A sanctions committee composed of all Security Council members will report on compliance with the embargo.
Russia, France, and others insisted on the 12-month limit. Moscow and Paris have been outspoken in criticizing the indefinite sanctions imposed on Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Russia, according to its latest voluntary arms export data, delivered heavy artillery to Ethiopia and combat aircraft to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998. Belarus, which identified Russia as the state of origin, and Bulgaria reported shipping 40 and 50 tanks, respectively, to Ethiopia during the same period. China, Israel, North Korea, Romania, and Ukraine have also been identified as supplying arms to the two poverty-stricken states in recent years.
A U.S. government official noted that "Ethiopia and Eritrea are frequently held up as examples of what is wrong in the current system of arms export restraints."
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