U.N. official says N. Korea wants improved ties with Seoul

By Byun Duk-kun
INCHEON, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may take some time before it returns to
six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program, but the communist nation
certainly wants to improve its ties with South Korea, a senior U.N. official said
Saturday after his trip to Pyongyang.

Lynn Pascoe, under-secretary-general of the United Nations for political affairs,
said he had a "fair amount of discussions" with North Koreans on ways to improve
South-North ties.
"I don't really want to go into the details. Mainly the issue was that in general
they did want to improve the relations (with South Korea), but the specifics are
another issue, of course," he told reporters after arriving at South Korea's
Incheon International Airport from China.
The U.N. official had been on a four-day trip to the North Korean capital from
Tuesday.
"We think the trip was very useful. We worked quite hard to improve the
reengagement with the North and the United Nations and I think in that we were
quite successful," he said.
Pascoe had made a three-day trip here before his visit to Pyongyang, which was
also aimed at bringing North Korea back to the six-way nuclear negotiations, also
attended by South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.
The former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia said he held "long discussions" with
North Korean officials on the issue, but refused to go into details.
"Those are talks among the six parties, but we certainly made it quite clear that
we wanted the talks to move forward quickly and without preconditions," he said.
North Korea has been staying away from the nuclear talks since December 2008. The
communist nation last month said it will return to the negotiating table if
U.N.-imposed sanctions were first removed. The sanctions were placed last year
shortly after Pyongyang conducted its second nuclear detonation test.
Both Seoul and Washington have rejected the North Korean demand, saying the
sanctions can only be removed by a U.N. Security Council vote and only after the
North first makes significant progress toward its denuclearization following its
return to the nuclear talks.
"I think this is going to be a major discussion. It is a major discussion,"
Pascoe said, referring to efforts by the six-party talks participants to resume
the stalled talks.
"I am not sure exactly where all those talks stand, but we had a very good talk
with the Chinese on it last night, and obviously we, the U.N., view they should
begin immediately," he added.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)

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