Mission Leader Sees Hope in Six-Party Agreement on North Korea Nuclear Issue

New York, NY, February 16, 2007—The United Methodist Church’s chief mission executive is hopeful that a new six-party agreement will not only lead to a phase out of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program but also open the door to talks on a permanent peace for the Korean peninsula.

Further, the Rev. R. Randy Day of the General Board of Global Ministries sees in the agreement the possibility of increased international humanitarian aid to North Korea, officially the Democratic Republic of Korea, a country with acute food shortages.

In a surprise move on February 13, a six-nation panel, meeting in Beijing, China, announced that North Korea had agreed to freeze its nuclear arms effort to move toward an eventual phase out, and to allow international inspection; this in return for much-needed fuel oil and other assistance.

The deal would apparently pave the way for the United States to remove North Korea from the designation of a “state sponsor of terrorism.”

A complex, carefully worded agreement projects bilateral talks aimed at resolving differences and moving toward full diplomatic relations between the US and North Korea. In addition to North Korea and the US, the parties in the Beijing talks were China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Russian Federation. The talks have been on a start and stop schedule for several years.

“This agreement is potentially very good news on multiple scores,” Day said, who had strongly denounced a North Korean underground nuclear test last year. Along with a halt to further nuclear proliferation, he mentioned the goals of a permanent Korean peace and the prospect of greater openness to humanitarian aid in North Korea.

The day after the February 13 accord, South Korea and North Korea announced that they would resume talks, interrupted by the nuclear test, on a permanent peace solution for the peninsula they share. The United Methodist Church and its mission agency, in consultation with the Korean Methodist Church, are on record in support of a Korean peace plan that might eventually result in political reunification of Korea.

Reactions in the US to the agreement were mixed. Day said that while the terms are not definitive, the agreement moves “in the right directions and is a great step forward, if its conditions can be realized.”

The mission leader expressed appreciation to President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for approving the agreement, in which the US softens some of its earlier demands of North Korea.

The full text of Day’s statement follows:
The six-party agreement on North Korea, announced on February 13, is very good news on multiple scores. It shows real promise for ending the nuclear weapons program of North Korea and also for pointing toward permanent peace for the whole of the Korean peninsula. It may also lead to an end to the isolation of North Korea and open the door for greater humanitarian aid to North Korea, which has acute food shortages.

Yes, these prospects are conditional. The agreement is not yet definitive but it does move in the right directions and is a great step forward, if its conditions can be realized. Key provisions would freeze and then phase out, with international inspection, the North Korean nuclear weapons build-up. In turn, North Korea would receive large quantities of fuel oil and humanitarian assistance. The agreement would also provide for normalized relations between the United States and North Korea and could cancel the designation of the latter as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Also greatly welcomed is the announcement that on April 14, talks will resume between North and South Korea on a possible permanent peace accord for the divided peninsula.

Diplomats from the six participating nations—China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, the Russian Federation and the US--should be commended for their persistence and patience in working out the February 13 agreement. Both the US and North Korea made considerable concessions from previous positions. President George W. Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have taken a very realistic look at the situation and are to be commended for approving the agreement.

The future of both Koreas is of great importance to the General Board of Global Ministries for multiple reasons. We have long stood as one with the Korean Methodist Church in the hope of an eventual single, democratic Korean nation. We have also provided, when conditions have allowed, food assistance to hungry people in the north.Further, The United Methodist Church has long-opposed nuclear weapons and nuclear testing, leading to strong opposition to the North Korean test last year.

We are encouraged by the inclusion of humanitarian assistance to North Korea in the February 13 agreement and will actively take part in conversations with other non-governmental organizations on ways that this goal might be achieved.

Let us pray that the terms of the agreement will come to fruition and that the prospect of peace will become a lasting peace.