Anticipation rising for U.S.-N.K. talks

The United States appeared to be busy raising the stakes for North Korea to earnestly recommit to its own denuclearization, with top officials advertising what enticing incentives are in store for the impoverished communist regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday underscored there would be a quid pro quo for North Korea`s return to the six-nation talks, saying the United States would "explore some of the issues which they have raised continually with us over the years; namely, normalization of relations, a peace treaty instead of an armistice, economic development assistance."

North Korea -- and South Korea as well under late former President Roh Moo-hyun -- has been seeking to replace the current armistice with a peace treaty to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War.

Clinton did not divulge further details but she emphasized that the United States is "going to go with a very clear message that there are significant benefits to North Korea if they recommit to the verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."



President Barack Obama during a trip to Seoul last week officially confirmed that U.S. special representative to North Korea Stephen Bosworth would make a trip to Pyongyang on Dec. 8 to accept an invitation North Korea extended months earlier.

It would mark the first time the two nations sit down for exclusive bilateral talks since former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill visited Pyongyang in October last year in last-minute attempts to salvage the crumbling six-nation talks.

Prior to Bosworth`s visit, a group of U.S. security experts has set off to the North for a research project, but they are expected to touch upon upcoming bilateral talks and denuclearization issues, diplomatic sources said. A briefing to the State Department also is likely, they added.

The three-member delegation including Jack Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute, and Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy of the Asia Foundation, embarked on their three-day visit on Saturday.

Despite the reconciliatory mood, officials and experts here were skeptical about the bilateral talks producing substantive results just yet.

"The real grind will come down to the six-nation talks. The United States is for the time being doing everything it can to make it more enticing for North Korea to apply itself to the denuclearization process and recommit to the multilateral dialogue," said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University. "Washington is eager to restart the six-party process as early as next year."

Washington has repeatedly said the denuclearization of North Korea can be carried out only within the framework of that dialogue.

Foreign Ministry officials also said the upcoming talks between Bosworth and his North Korean counterpart would be nothing more than a chance to "explore each other`s demands" and "make notes of possible negotiation strategies."

Economic benefits and a peace treaty, however, are noteworthy in that they are among the list of incentives that experts both here and in Washington perceive as potentially attractive to the North.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is seeking to assemble a "comprehensive package" of such incentives, to which President Lee Myung-bak has responded with his version entitled the "Grand Bargain."

Both strategies share the same goal -- complete and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea -- but Lee has demonstrated a bigger interest in producing a "one-shot" deal that achieves denuclearization in a single step, whereas Washington appears to be more flexible about allowing a step-by-step approach assuming it produces a fundamental end.

South Korea and the United States, not to mention the other partners of the six-party dialogue, have been noticeably struggling to draw the North back to the denuclearization discussions without rewarding its negative behavior.

Pyongyang, after talks with Washington collapsed late last year, has resorted back to brinkmanship tactics that culminated in its second nuclear test on May 25. In April the North said it would "permanently" boycott the six-nation talks in retaliation to a United Nations Security Council denouncement of its rocket launch.

The five nations of the six-party talks, led by Seoul and Washington, have since then engaged in a two-track approach utilizing both incentives and dialogue.

In July, Pyongyang abruptly indicated that it would like to restart dialogue over its denuclearization. Later in October, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly told Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of his intentions to recommit to the six-nation process depending on results from bilateral talks with Washington.

(jemmie@heraldm.com)







By Kim Ji-hyun