North Korea's top nuclear envoy said Saturday it wanted a light-water reactor as compensation for shutting down its nuclear programmes, while accusing Japan of causing a political crisis.
"For the shutdown, disabling, and eventual dismantlement (of North Korean nuclear facilities), the light-water nuclear reactor should come in," Kim Kye-Gwan told reporters at Beijing airport before leaving for Pyongyang.
Kim's comments follow nuclear disarmament talks in Beijing that ended Friday with the communist state reiterating its intentions to declare and disable all its nuclear programmes in return for fuel aid and diplomatic concessions under a February deal. No deadline was agreed during three days of talks involving China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia, but discussions are to resume in September, following working-level talks to decide terms of the "declare and disable" agreement.
Talks began in 2003 to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions but the reclusive regime conducted its first atomic test in October last year. The North is an energy-starved state which experiences frequent power shortages and wants the light-water reactor to generate electricity.
The six nations agreed in September 2005 to discuss furnishing North Korea with light-water reactors "at an appropriate time," with Washington insisting that Pyongyang must first disable all its current nuclear programmes.
North Korea, has demanded the reactors - reportedly designed so that spent fuel cannot be reprocessed into weapons-grade material - to replace its Yongbyon reactor, which it shut down last week.
But Kim also Saturday accused Japan of causing a political crisis that could lead to "disaster". "They (Japan) are creating a political crisis worse than the financial sanctions, a crisis that infringes on our national sovereignty," Kim said.
He said he expressed his concerns to his Japanese counterpart, Kenichiro Sasae, during a rare bilateral meeting on Thursday in Beijing. "I warned that if they take one more step forward, a disaster would come," Kim said.
He refused to elaborate, but his comments came amid strong criticism from North Korea over Japan's recent forced auction of the headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon.
They also appeared to be aimed at Japan's insistence that a long-standing row over the abduction of Japanese nationals by the North Korean regime be settled before Tokyo participates in supplying energy and other aid.
The latest round was the first since March, when negotiations broke down over US financial sanctions imposed on Pyongyang which had been accused of money-laundering and counterfeiting.
Resolution of the financial issue led North Korea to shut down its Yongbyon complex, which also came after Pyongyang allowed UN nuclear inspectors to visit and begin sealing its nuclear facilities. "We have come through what was arguably the most productive week in the six-party process," US nuclear envoy said Christopher Hill told journalists in Beijing on Friday.
"We have got the Yongbyon complex shut down. We have laid out a view from where we go from here... I'm very, very satisfied." "Declaring and disabling" North Korea's nuclear facilities, the second phase of the February six-nation disarmament accord, is expected to be implemented in return for one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid, as well as wide-ranging diplomatic concessions and security guarantees.
Hill departed Beijing Friday, but due to an unspecified mechanical problem on his commercial flight, was forced to return to the capital and was unable to leave until Saturday, US officials told.