September 19 Joint Statement

The September 19 Joint Statement was issued at the conclusion of the fourth round of the Six-Party Talks in Beijing, hosted by China and bringing together North Korea (DPRK), South Korea (ROK), the United States, China, Japan, and Russia. It remains the most substantive multilateral agreement produced by that negotiating format on the North Korean nuclear issue.

In the statement, the DPRK committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to IAEA safeguards. In exchange, the other parties offered a package of commitments, including:

• A US affirmation that it had no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons.
• Respect for the DPRK's stated right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, with the other parties expressing willingness to discuss the provision of a light-water reactor "at an appropriate time."
• Steps toward normalization of DPRK–US and DPRK–Japan relations.
• Economic cooperation in energy, trade, and investment, including the ROK's earlier offer of 2 million kilowatts of electric power.
• A commitment to negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula in a separate forum, replacing the 1953 Armistice.

The parties endorsed the principle of "commitment for commitment, action for action."

Implementation collapsed almost immediately. The same week, the US Treasury designated Banco Delta Asia in Macau over DPRK-linked illicit finance, which Pyongyang treated as a hostile act. Although follow-on implementation agreements were reached in February and October 2007, the DPRK conducted its first nuclear test on 9 October 2006 and subsequent tests in 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017. The Six-Party Talks have not reconvened since December 2008, but the September 19 Statement is still frequently cited by Beijing and Moscow as the baseline framework for any future denuclearization deal.