U.S. reaching out to N. Korea: Bosworth

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional comments, remarks by Sung Kim, backgrounds)
By Lee Chi-dong
INCHEON, March 7 (Yonhap) -- Stephen Bosworth, the new U.S. special
representative for North Korea policy, on Saturday offered an olive branch to
North Korea and also reiterated a warning against the communist nation's move to
fire a long-range missile.
"We are reaching out (to North Korea) now. We want dialogue," the envoy told
reporters upon arriving at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, for a
four-day stay during which he said he will hold introductory meetings with South
Korean officials, including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
However, he did not elaborate on how the U.S. would offer dialogue, saying, "I'm
not going to get into channels."
Bosworth previously served as Washington's ambassador to Seoul, but it is his
first trip here since being appointed as President Barack Obama's point man on
Pyongyang.
He reaffirmed that he has no plan to visit North Korea during his ongoing
regional trip that also took him to China and Japan, although he said he may do
so next time.
"I don't at this time have plans to travel to North Korea on this trip. I don't
really want to get into preconditions," he said.
The envoy also sidestepped a question on whether he may travel to the North even
if it fires a missile.
"That is a complicated subject," he said. "We've indicated our position to them on
the question of a missile launch or satellite launch, or whatever they call it. We
think it's very ill-advised."
Bosworth said the North's latest threat against South Korean commercial jets
flying near its territory is unhelpful.
"I don't think that warning is very helpful, and I think that everyone would be
much happier if they would drop that line of rhetoric," he said.
On the resumption of the stalled six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions,
he said it is premature to talk about the timing.
Bosworth is scheduled to have a meeting later Saturday with top Russian nuclear
envoy Alexei Borodavkin, who is also visiting Seoul, followed by a meeting with
South Korea's new negotiator, Wi Sung-lac, on Monday. The latest round of six-way
talks also involving China and Japan ended in deadlock last December over ways to
inspect the North's nuclear facilities.
Sung Kim, special envoy for the six-way talks who has been promoted to lead the
U.S. delegation, told Yonhap News Agency that Bosworth will be "very closely
involved" in the Beijing-based negotiations.
"He will oversee all aspects of the six-way talks," Kim said, walking out of the
airport.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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