Bosworth urges N. Korea to improve communication with S. Korea

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- A high-level U.S. envoy called on North Korea Monday to improve communication with South Korea and reduce tension on the divided peninsula by denuclearizing through a multilateral process.

Stephen Bosworth said Pyongyang's latest measure to cut a main military
communications channel to protest the United States and South Korea's joint
military training is regrettable.
"Obviously, this is something that we regret," Stephen Bosworth told reporters
after a series of meetings with President Lee Myung-bak and other top-ranking
officials. "We think that improved communications between South and North Korea
must in the longer run be a key component of the six-party effort to reduce
tension and to bring about the denuclearization of the peninsula."
Eighty South Korean workers remain stranded in an inter-Korean joint industrial
complex in Kaesong, a North Korean border town, because the North pulled the plug
on its military communication line earlier in the day. Cross-border visits by
South Koreans require North Korean military's endorsement through the
communication line.
He reaffirmed that Washington will push for talks with Pyongyang on the basis of
its alliance with Seoul.
"Because of our alliance, the need for U.S. cooperation and coordination with the
ROK (South Korea) is paramount, and we are dedicated to that," he said. "The
fundamental goal of the United States remains unchanged, and that is the complete
and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
The envoy dismissed worries that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration may
put a higher priority on direct negotiations with Pyongyang than the often
troubled six-party talks also involving South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
"We continue to regard the six-party process as the central element of our effort
to continue with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said.
Bosworth again warned North Korea not to fire a ballistic missile, saying it
would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in 2006 after its
nuclear and missile tests.
"Whether they describe it as a satellite launch or something else makes no
difference. This would be a violation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution
1718," he said.
He said the U.S. wants the six-way talks to resume at an early date. The latest
round in Beijing three months ago ended in a deadlock over Pyongyang's refusal to
allow international inspectors to take samples from its nuclear sites.
"We are hopeful that we can see the resumption of the six-party process in the
relatively near future," Bosworth said.
South Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Wi Sung-lac, agreed.
"We are willing to have any kind of discussions, including the verification
method," Wi said in a separate meeting with reporters. "It would be useful to
hold the talks if possible."
Wi said the North's five dialogue partners are in consultations to map out a
joint countermeasure against the North's possible missile launch.
"There is no perfect agreement yet, but the coordination of opinions is
underway," he said. South Korea, the U.S. and Japan maintain a view that the
North's firing of any rocket, even in the guise of a space program, would
constitute a violation of the U.N. resolution. However, China and Russia could be
more cautious about sanctions against their ally Pyongyang.
Bosworth, meanwhile, arrived in South Korea on Saturday for a four-day stay, the
last stop in an Asian tour that also took him to Beijing and Tokyo.
He said he would fly home directly on Tuesday as scheduled in response to a
question on the possibility of a trip to the North.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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