N. Korea's peace regime proposal seen as effort to disrupt 6-way process: lawmaker

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's proposal for a peace treaty as a
precondition for resumption of six-party talks should be seen as an attempt to
undermine international cooperation for the North's nuclear dismantlement, a
senior South Korean lawmaker said Thursday.

"Even if North Korea returns to the six-party talks, it will try to get political
and economic rewards rather than resolving the nuclear issue," Lee Yoon-sung,
vice speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea, told a forum at the School
of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, here. "In this
context, North Korea aims to break up the unity between South Korea and the U.S.
and other partners to the six-party talks by insisting on a peace treaty with the
U.S. and coming up with excuses to refuse the six-party talks."
North Korea has recently called for the signing of a peace treaty that would
replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War before reopening
multilateral nuclear talks.
Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, and other U.S.
officials have said reopening the nuclear talks should precede the discussion of
the peace treaty, which they said is to be addressed within the six-party
framework.
Bosworth visited Pyongyang last month in the first high-level contact with the
North since the launch of the Obama administration last January, but failed to
secure a commitment from the North to return to the nuclear talks, which also
involve South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
The U.S. point man on North Korea said Wednesday that he hoped the six-party
talks will resume "sometime in the next few weeks or months." Other officals say
they are ready to have another high-level face-to-face contact to facilitate
reopening of the talks, which Pyongyang has boycotted over U.N. sanctions for its
nuclear and missile tests early last year.
Lee, a four-term South Korean lawmaker from the conservative ruling Grand
National Party, opposed any idea of easing sanctions on North Korea prematurely.
"We should not lift sanctions on North Korea just because the North returned to
the six-party talks without taking tangible denuclearization steps," Lee said.
"North Korea is expected to pursue a nuclear weapons state through continued
nuclear development while engaging in six-party nuclear negotiations."
Removal of sanctions is another precondition North Korea has recently put forth
so it could come back to the six-party talks.
"Our government's concern is about the repetition of the pattern in which North
Korea creates a crisis, reaches an agreement and then violates that for another
round of negotiations for rewards," Lee said.
The lawmaker affiliated with the National Defense Committee of the South Korean
parliament said that the Lee Myung-bak government will take steps to help the
North overcome its economic plight if Pyongyang shows its resolution to
denuclearize through the six-party talks.
Bosworth also Wednesday reconfirmed Washington's commitment to resolve the North
Koan nuclear issue through the six-party talks, although he predicted a tough
road ahead even after the resumption of any nuclear talks.
"I think we recognize merely reconvening talks, while important, only creates the
opportunity for further challenges, and we will have to begin seriously dealing
with the substance of the problems," he said. "I have no misgivings, no
misunderstandings of about how difficult that might be. But we remain absolutely
committed to dialogue, and we are committed to looking for multilateral solutions
within the six-party process to the problems and challenges we face."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

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