Seoul supports talks between U.S., N.K.

South Korea yesterday said it supports Washington`s decision to hold a bilateral meeting with North Korea by year`s end in efforts to reactivate the process for ending Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons programs.

"We support the visit by Special Representative Stephen Bosworth to North Korea aimed at reconfirming North Korea`s denuclearization vows including an early revival of the six-nation talks and the Sept. 19 joint declaration," said Moon Tae-young, the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The six-party talks are the official dialogue aimed at denuclearizing the North, while the joint declaration announced on Sept. 19, 2005, outlines the framework based on which Pyongyang agreed to end its nuclear programs.

Moon stressed that the South Korean government hopes the upcoming talks will precipitate six-party dialogue to contribute "positively" to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.



Bosworth, the U.S. point man on North Korea, will fly to Pyongyang by the end of the year as part of the six-party process to denuclearize the North, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

He is expected to meet with Kang Sok-ju, North Korea`s first vice foreign minister and the immediate superior of Kim Kye-gwan, head of the North Korean delegation to the six-party talks.

"We have told North Korea that we are prepared for Ambassador (Stephen) Bosworth and a small interagency team to visit Pyongyang at an appropriate time not yet determined," said Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs.

"I would not expect this meeting to take place while the president is in -- and the secretary are in the region. I would say, as an expectation, sometime between now and the end of the year."

U.S. President Barack Obama embarks on a nine-day Asian trip Thursday, winding up his tour in Seoul on Nov. 19.

Crowley said the proposed visit should focus on resumption of the multilateral talks on ending North Korea`s nuclear weapons programs. The talks have been in a lull due to U.N. sanctions for North Korea`s nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.

"Ambassador Bosworth`s discussions in Pyongyang will take place in the context of the six-party talks," said Crowley. "From our standpoint, the purpose will be to facilitate an early resumption of the six-party talks and to secure North Korea`s reaffirmation of the September 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks, including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner."

The 2005 nuclear deal calls for the North`s nuclear dismantlement in return for a hefty amount of economic aid, diplomatic recognition and the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

But further talks between the members of the six-nation talks became suspended late last year. In April the North declared its "official" exit from the discussions after the United Nations Security Council condemned its rocket launch.

Whether the North would immediately resume the multiparty dialogue remains uncertain, for the United States and North Korea reportedly have agreed to hold at least a couple bilateral meetings before Pyongyang`s return.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il early last month said Pyongyang would return to the six-party talks pending the outcome of bilateral talks with Washington.

Crowley said the North`s gestures came from successful implementation of international financial sanctions and an overall arms embargo, which Washington believes have effectively cut off revenues from arms sales, the only source of hard currency for the impoverished communist state.

"We have to believe that North Korea has felt, you know, some of that pressure," the spokesman said. "So you`ve seen a shift in their strategy, the so-called charm offensive that they have engaged in for the past couple of months."

Crowley warned that the United States would maintain its sanctions on the North unless Pyongyang takes substantial steps toward denuclearization.

"But clearly, we are very realistic about our expectations ... the bottom line here is that North Korea has to take affirmative steps towards denuclearization," he said. "We are not going to reward North Korea simply for returning to the six-party talks. We will be looking to see if they are prepared to take the kinds of affirmative steps that they had previously agreed to."

The spokesman took note of the North`s notorious brinkmanship.

"North Korea has a history of coming back to negotiations and expecting to be rewarded just for simply coming back, you know, for discussions," he said. "We`re not here to talk for talk`s sake; we`re here to see ... specific results by North Korea."

(jemmie@heraldm.com)





By Kim Ji-hyun and news reports