N. Korea getting ready to return to nuclear negotiations: official

By Byun Duk-kun
TOKYO, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- What initially appeared to be an attempt by North
Korea to stall multilateral negotiations on ending its nuclear program may have
been an attempt to provide its own excuse to return to the negotiating table, a
ranking South Korean official said Sunday, noting Pyongyang may soon be ready to
return to the nuclear talks.
The official was referring to North Korea's demand last week that the countries
begin efforts to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War by replacing the Korean
armistice with a peace treaty through the six-party nuclear talks or a separate
forum.
South Korea and the United States, allies from the Korean War, have dismissed the
demand, saying such discussions can only take place after the communist North
first returns to the nuclear talks and starts moving toward denuclearization.
The official, however, noted there is a view that Pyongyang may in fact be trying
to return to the nuclear talks that it quit nearly a year ago.
"North Korea said in April that it will completely quit the six-party talks. So
there is a view that North Korea may be trying to create an excuse for its return
to the six-party talks," the official told reporters, asking not to be identified
due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The South Korean official was on a trip here for the Forum of East Asia-Latin
America Cooperation.
However, he said the North already gave a face-saving excuse to return to
dialogue when the special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, Stephen
Bosworth, visited Pyongyang late last year for discussions on ways to resume the
nuclear talks and improve North Korea-U.S. relations.
The U.S. has long dismissed the idea of bilateral talks with the communist North
until Pyongyang makes significant progress toward its denuclearization, saying
Bosworth's trip to North Korea was part of six-party efforts to resume the talks.
The South Korean official said the U.S. and the North will unlikely hold
additional talks ahead of the nuclear talks' resumption, saying the U.S. "is not
in a position where it can make visible concessions" to North Korea.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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