U.S. won`t pay N.K. to return to six-party talks: Kissinger

The United States will not pay North Korea to return to the six-party talks, although it is sincerely committed to negotiations on ending the North`s nuclear program, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said yesterday.

Kissinger noted, however, that the countries involved in the nuclear talks, including the United States, will have to decide when negotiations will stop if North Korea continues to develop nuclear arms and refuses to give them up.

"I think (Barack) Obama is trying to find an end to the North Korean nuclear issue, partly for reasons of South Korea, partly reasons for Asia, but also for reasons of the world," Kissinger said during a lecture organized by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank in Seoul.

"They (the United States) are sincerely interested in finding a solution," he added.



Kissinger said that Washington sincerely wants to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons program not because it poses a serious threat to the United States, but because of the "overwhelming" example it could set for other states with nuclear ambitions if the country is allowed to develop and proliferate nuclear weapons.

"We have very little fear from North Korea`s nuclear capability. The kind of weapons that North Korea can produce we can surely handle with whatever defensive system we have," he said.

"But the real danger is, if North Korea, a state which has no significant resources, by starving its population can create nuclear capability, the temptation for other countries to follow that road would be overwhelming."

North Korea recently demanded the removal of U.N. sanctions and the start of talks on a peace treaty as conditions for its return to the six-nation negotiating table.

Kissinger said if North Korea really wants to solve the issue through negotiations, it must show its willingness by returning to the talks without any preconditions.

"My general view is that unless all parties are equally interested in the outcome, you can`t make them interested by paying them a price for entering the negotiations," he told the forum.

The top U.S. diplomat of the Nixon administration noted North Korea`s continued boycott of negotiations might cause its dialogue partners to consider other options.

"If no progress is made, at some point, it`d be obvious that negotiations have not succeeded," he told reporters later.

(sophie@heraldm.com)



By Kim So-hyun