N. Korea presses for talks with U.S.

North Korea once again pressed for bilateral talks with the United States yesterday, threatening to "go its own way," or continue with its nuclear activities, if Washington does not respond.

"It is time for the United States to make a decision as we have been generous enough to show our position that we could take part in multilateral negotiations including the six-way talks after direct talks with Washington," the North Korean foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"If the United States isn`t ready to sit down face-to-face with us, we will go our own way."



After months of provocations, marked by long-range rocket and nuclear tests, the communist regime has appealed for dialogue and invited Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, to visit Pyongyang.

Ri Gun, the North`s deputy nuclear envoy, and Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy on the six-nation talks, met in New York and San Diego last week, raising media speculation that the two sides were discussing conditions for Bosworth`s visit to North Korea. Some newspapers have said Bosworth is likely to visit Pyongyang this month.

The North Korean spokesman, however, attached little importance to the first official contact between the two countries under the Barack Obama administration last week.

"The contact was not a preliminary meeting for talks between North Korea and the United States," he said.

"So there was no discussion on substantial issues related to the bilateral dialogue."

The North reportedly renewed its request for Bosworth`s visit to Pyongyang during the meeting, without confirming whether he would be met by first vice foreign minister Kang Sok-ju. The North also reportedly did not mention whether it would return to the six-party talks if Bosworth visited Pyongyang.

Ri was scheduled to head back home yesterday after more than a week of stay in the United States, during which he attended academic forums in New York and San Diego.

Meanwhile, South Korea`s top nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac, is considering visiting Washington later this week to meet senior U.S. officials including Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Bosworth, according to diplomatic sources.

Seoul has still not received any response from Pyongyang on its offer of 10,000 tons of corn a week ago, possibly due to the North`s discomfort at the relatively meager amount of aid. South Korea had provided hundreds of thousands of tons in rice and fertilizer aid to the North annually under past administrations.

Nevertheless, the South Korean government said it was taking steps to spend 4 billion won to import the corn.

According to international estimates, North Korea`s harvest this year is believed to fall more than one million tons short of the food needed to feed its 24 million people. South Korean visitors to the North have recently reported the poor conditions of rice paddies and corn fields due to the lack of fertilizer.

(sophie@heraldm.com)







By Kim So-hyun