U.S. commander urges N. Korea to return to talks, discuss verification

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. commander in South Korea said Monday North Korea should first return to dialogue if it hopes to feel secure from what it calls the ever-present U.S. nuclear threat on the divided peninsula.

Stressing South Korea possesses no nuclear weapons, Gen. Walter Sharp of the
Combined Forces Command also said North Korea "successfully did a nuclear test in
2006."
"South Korea does not have nuclear weapons, and the demand is for North Korea to
verify that they do not have nuclear weapons and to denuclearize," Sharp told a
group of foreign news media journalists in Seoul.
Speaking to North Korea's increasing demands that the United States first verify
the absence of nuclear weapons in South Korea, Sharp urged Pyongyang to first
return to six-nation disarmament talks.
"I think the answer to that will come out when North Korea finally agrees to sit
down and discuss how we're going to go through a verification regime," he said.
"We, the United States, and the other countries of the six-party talks look
forward to that day so that we can work these details out," said Sharp, who heads
the U.S. Forces Korea.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53
Korean War that ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.