“More and more the DPRK was pushed in a corner.”

Thae Yong Ho, counsellor of the DPRK Embassy in London. © Alain Noguès.

During the last Six Party talks in Februari a new agreement has been reached. The DPRK will shut down its Yonbyon nuclear facilities whereas the other parties will provide 19 million tons of heavy oil. There will be several working groups. The US has promised to end the sanctions and their hostile policy. The commitments are signed by the six parties, not only by the DPRK.

In fact, we are not sure that this agreement will be implemented. We will carry out our obligations but we don’t know if the other parties will carry out theirs.

Note that the biggest nuclear power recently declared that it will modernise their nuclear weapons, in stead of reducing them.

At the end of the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear war was supposed to disappear. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US never adapted its strategy to the new situation.

In 1994, Clinton signed the Geneva Agreement between the US and the DPRK. Our country accepted to freeze its nuclear facilities in return for two light water reactors. But when Bush took power, its administration decided not to carry out this commitment.

Bush changed the cold war strategy into a “pre-emptive strike” strategy. The US gives itself the right to invade any country and to use nuclear weapons against the so-called “enemy countries”. The DPRK has organised several manifestations against this nuclear threat and the DPRK decided to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Soon after, the US started to threaten our country.

Since that time, our country has tried to convince the US to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, to normalise the relations and to sign a peace treaty. But the Bush administration pursued its hostile policy and even started a war against Iraq.

According a statement signed in September 2005, during a round of the Six-Party talks, the DPRK would stop its nuclear activities and the US would lift its hostile policy. But soon after this agreement, the US asked banks to freeze all the DPRK accounts, especially the Macau bank. The US Treasury designated Banco Delta Asia as a "prime money laundering concern" in 2005. That sparked a run on the bank, which resulted in the Macao government taking control of the family-owned institution and freezing $25m in North Korean assets.

Meanwhile the US started intensive war exercises in South Korea and brought some EU countries to isolate the DPRK.

The DPRK was pushed more and more in to a corner by the policy of the US. It had no way to move. It was a question of protecting our existence and our survival. That is why we decided to have a nuclear test last October.

And only after the test, the US took us seriously and wanted to solve the problem. The US went ahead on two fronts: first, they asked the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions and a UN resolution. In the mean time they began talks with us. This resulted last February in the Beijing Agreement. The US promised to remove the financial sanctions, to remove our country from the list of “terrorist countries”, to normalise the relations and to replace the ceasefire agreement by a peace treaty. If the US really wants to change its policy to the DPRK, there is no point for the DPRK to have nuclear weapons. The DPRK is a small country.

“In Asia, it is not Japan which was divided but Korea!”

Korea was divided after the World War II, a war that Korea did not start. In Europe, Germany which started the war was divided. In Asia, it is not Japan which was divided but Korea!

The division of Korea stems from after World War II when the allies ended the Japan occupation. The Russians came to the northern part to disarm the Japanese troops. Later, the US took over the southern part, despite the defeat of Japan. Since this arbitrary division, Koreans struggle for reunification. The US has always worked against the reunification.

But the reunification process has expanded continuously and became more intense after the Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000. Koreans developed a lot of joint projects. For example the development of the Kumgang Mountains tours. Tens of thousands South Koreans visit the Kumgang mountains every month. The Kaesong complex is also an important project.

The North-South trade exchange increased dramatically. Now, China and South Korea are in competition to be the first partner of the DPRK. The US wants to coordinate the policy of the South Korean regime and they want to stop the Kaesong project.

Last Friday, North and South reached an agreement about the meeting of divided families, about economic cooperation and about suspending nuclear tests. The inter-Korean relations are growing step by step.

“We are going to recover and not give in any principle.”

Every year, the economic situation of our country is getting better. Indeed, we still have to increase our production. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed all our trade with the Soviet Union and former European socialist countries suddenly stopped. Imagine that all trade relations between Belgium and Germany, France, United Kingdom, etc. suddenly come to a halt. It happened to us. Our industry was based on the Soviet Union and China for machines and supply of pieces. That is why our industry was seriously affected. And we had to look for new trade partners. At the same time, natural disasters devastated our country. If this had happened in the ’70ies or ’80ies, we would have had less problems to recover.

We still bear the consequences of the natural disasters. In the present situation, we still need more than 10 years to completely recover. But, as western travellers can see themselves, life is getting better now. Our agricultural production increases year after year. Our country has built a lot of new houses and flats, for example. We will recover without giving in any of our principles.

After this introduction, Thae Yong Ho answered some questions from the public.

Do you think the situation will change when a democratic president comes to power in the United States?

© Alain Noguès.

The US politicians have understood that we are not ready to give up our principles. Republicans or Democrats, it doesn’t matter. We had bad experiences with both. The main thing is that they must respect our sovereignty and cooperate with the DPRK if they really want to solve the nuclear issue and maintain peace in the region.

And what do you think about the South Korean elections?

After the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration, there was protest by the conservatives in South Korea. Even now, some conservatives want to stop the inter-Korean cooperation. They want to cooperate with Japan and the US.

But other forces in South Korea want to move on independently. The inter-Korean relations have reached a high level. If someone wants to reverse it now, there won’t be a lot of support.

There is a hot debate now about what to do with the US troops. The US wants to stay in South Korea. Not only against North Korea but also to stop the influence of China and to control Japan.

In the past, the main mission of the US troops was to protect South Korea from aggression coming from North Korea. But now the US troops can be sent anywhere in the region from their bases in South Korea. For example to the Taiwan Strait. Or if tension would occur in South East Asia, the US forces in South Korea can be used. Many people in South Korea want to change this new character of the US forces. A lot of South Koreans think that South Korea can become a target, because of this “flexibility” of the US forces. So, if we want to keep peace in the region, the US troops have to leave.

We would like to organize a trip to North and South Korea. Do you think it is possible?

It is not possible yet because there still is a Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two parts of the country. A special agreement between North and South and the US is needed for any one who wants to pass through the DMZ. It is not a safe passage.

If the US is serious about the last agreement, and finally signs the peace treaty we can remove the DMZ. In the mean time we are preparing this removal. Some of the roads and rail roads are again connected and being tested.

The South Korean personnel of the Kaesong economical zone has to pass the DMZ every day. The railways to Kumgang Mountains are open. We move on step by step.

Recently, a European delegation wanted to pass to the South but because of the bureaucracy and all the military rules it wasn’t possible. It would be the same for you, we have to assure your safety if you want to pass. We must be sure that there will not be any shooting. Do you remember what has happened to the Italian journalist who was shot by US troops recently in Iraq? It is those things we want to avoid.

What about flying?

For the joint meetings flights are scheduled between Seoul and Pyongyang. But the route is complicated. The plane has to go around the DMZ, fly into international airspace and turn back to avoid the thousands of missiles along the DMZ. This is to avoid any incident.

Do you think we will see a unified Korean team with the blue flag during the next Olympic Games in Beijing 2008?

At the last Asian Games, there was a joint delegation during the opening ceremony, carrying the reunification flag, but there were 2 teams during the competition.

The 2 national Olympic committees are holding meetings about the question. It’s not easy to reach an agreement. There are a lot of practical discussions. For example, how many players from each side will be included in the joint team? But on the principal, to constitute a unified team, there is an agreement.

In which sport do you expect some medals during the next Olympic Games?

During the Olympic Games in Spain, our country won 4 gold medals. We are strong in female football, female gymnastic, in boxing, in female and male diving, in female wrestling. But as you know, we can not be sure of any victory. It depends of many factors. China has a strong female football team as well. Sometimes we win against them, sometimes we lose.

Is there any progress in the normalisation of diplomatic relations in Europe?

The European Union counts 27 countries at the moment and we have official diplomatic relations with all of them except with France. There are some troubles with Estonia. We had diplomatic relations in the past but now it’s not clear if they still exist. With France, it is clear: we don’t have any relations.

In 2000, the few EU countries which hadn’t established diplomatic relations yet, decided to do so, but France said no. We have diplomatic relations with Belgium and the Netherlands, we exchanged our ambassadors and we are officially accredited.

There is still a problem with the European Union. The DPRK would like to open a mission to the EU in Brussels. The Belgian Foreign Ministry agrees on principal, but says that the time is not right yet.

Is there any danger cheap North Korean labour is used in Kaesong?

The first purpose of this zone is to bring reconciliation. A lot of South Korean workers come every day to Kaesong and work together with North Koreans. Of course, labour costs of our workers are lower, but they are well educated. [1]

We are now discussing the possibility to provide raw materials in exchange of technology to the South Korean economy.

What is the position of your country about the WTO, the World Bank and other international financial and trade organisations?

It is very clear that these organisations are in the hands of the US. We would like to become a member of the WTO but the US has listed the DPRK as an “enemy country”. Nobody is allowed to have trade relations with so-called “enemy countries”.

The US dollar is connected to the US reserve system. The DPRK dollar reserves can be stolen by the US reserve system. Let’s take the example of the recent financial sanctions. The DPRK was using a Macau bank for its international transactions. The US pretended that part of this account was falsified. And our accounts were frozen. Even not directly by the US but by the bank itself. Why? If the Macau bank refused to freeze our accounts, they would face a problem of confidence and could get bankrupt. In order to survive, the bank had to freeze the DPRK funds.

We face a similar problem with the UN agencies. Agencies like the UNDP, the WHO and FAO have a lot of projects in the DPRK. The US has a chair in every board meeting of these agencies. Recently, the US declared the UNDP project illegal. The UNDP pays its personnel in US dollars. The US said that these dollars are used to produce nuclear weapons. As a result, the UNDP had to stop temporarily its activities in our country. It means that even the UN system is controlled by US.

And what about your relations with Cuba?

Cuba receives our full support from the beginning of the revolution. The number one friend of our country is Cuba.