U.S. urges N. Korea to return to 6-way talks

(ATTN: UPDATES with White House spokesman's remarks, other details throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday urged North Korea to
return to six-party talks for the verifiable denuclearization of the reclusive
communist state.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood made the remarks in response to North
Korea's threat to boycott the multilateral nuclear talks for good after the U.N.
Security Council's adoption Monday of a council presidential statement to condemn
the North's rocket launch last week.
"I just want to basically refer you back to the U.N. Security Council
presidential statement that was issued, and this presidential statement made very
clear the position of the U.N. Security Council plus Japan," Wood said in a daily
news briefing. "As you know, the statement calls for an early resumption of the
six-party talks, a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and full
implementation of the joint statement of 2005."
The North Korean Foreign Ministry said earlier in the day that it will never
again attend the six-party talks, will restart its nuclear reactor being disabled
under a six-party deal, will consider building light-water nuclear reactors and
strengthen its nuclear deterrent.
On the reports that North Korea has ordered international monitors to leave the
North's nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang, Wood
said, "I've seen reports but I don't have anything for you on that."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs urged North Korea to refrain from making
threats.
"We call on North Korea to cease its provocative threats, to respect the will of
the international community and to honor its international commitments and
obligations," he said
He was referring to the six-party deal under which the North is supposed to
abandon its nuclear programs in return for economic aid and diplomatic
recognition by the U.S. and its allies.
The six-party process has been in a lull since December, when North Korea refused
to agree to a verification protocol for its nuclear facilities.
"The six-party talks offer North Korea the best path towards that acceptance
through dialogue," Gibbs said. "The United States is prepared to work with North
Korea and its neighbors through the six-party process to reduce tensions and
achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula."
North Korea launched a rocket on April 5 and said it has successfully put a
communications satellite into orbit, although the U.S. and its allies see the
launch as a cover for a ballistic missile test.
The UNSC presidential statement is a compromise between the U.S. and its allies
and North Korea's two major allies, China and Russia, which did not want to
escalate tensions and sided with North Korea's claim it has the right to send a
satellite into space.
The statement, though not a legally binding resolution, has strong wording that
condemns the launch as contravention of U.N. Resolution 1718 and calls for early
resumption of the six-party talks, deadlocked over how to verify North Korea's
past and current nuclear activity.
It also demands that a committee present a list of North Korean firms and goods
to be subject to sanctions, which have been largely neglected due to lack of
proper implementation measures.
Gibbs said the U.S. was pleased with the presidential statement.
"I think the administration is quite pleased with the result out of the United
Nations in the condemnation for the launch," he said. "North Korea's announced
threat to withdraw from the six-party talks and restart its nuclear program is a
serious step in the wrong direction. North Korea will not find acceptance by the
international community unless it verifiably abandons its pursuit of nuclear
weapons."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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