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

(ATTN: ADDS Clinton's remarks in paras 10-11)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday urged North Korea to
refrain from threats and return to the six-party talks on the verifiable
denuclearization of the reclusive communist state.

"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," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
North Korea a day earlier had threatened to abandon the six-party talks, in
hiatus 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."
At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood referred to the presidential
statement adopted Monday by the United Nations Security Council to condemn North
Korea's rocket launch last week.
"This presidential statement made very clear the position of the U.N. Security
Council plus Japan," Wood said. "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 Monday 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.
In an apparent prelude to reactivating its plutonium-producing reactor, which was
being disabled, North Korea also has ordered international monitors to leave the
North's nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang, reports
said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that she saw that "as an
unnecessary response to the legitimate statement put out of concern by the
Security Council."
"We hope that there will be an opportunity to discuss this not only with our
partners and allies, but also eventually with the North Koreans," she said before
meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze.
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.
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, seeing the
launch as a cover for a ballistic missile test, said they had not found any new
satellite from the North's launch.
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.
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."
Some analysts say North Korea's rocket launch is typical brinkmanship to draw
concessions, while others see it as an attempt by the North to sideline the
six-party talks, which have yet to produce tangible results since their inception
in 2003, and shift to bilateral talks with the U.S.
Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center based in Honolulu, Hawaii,
said, "North Korea's strong reaction to the U.N. condemnation might indicate a
decision to push harder for direct bilateral talks with the United States rather
than the six-party talks, which recently have had trouble reaching a consensus
among the Group of Five." The group is the five permanent members of the Security
Council.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will not only continue the six-party
talks but also engage the North bilaterally in a more direct manner to make a
breakthrough in the years of on-and-off negotiations.
Another possible scenario, said Roy, is that "Pyongyang is just keeping up the
pressure to restart the negotiations, and would accept a continuation of the
six-party format."
He added, "This strong reaction by Pyongyang is disproportionate considering the
U.N. reaction was very restrained and seemed motivated mainly by the need to
appease domestic opinion in Japan and the USA."
The North's strong reaction comes amid controversy over whether the presidential
statement is legally binding. John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.,
has described the statement as "an opinion."
Few believe the statement, regardless of its strong wording, will be implemented
effectively without the help of reluctant China, the biggest benefactor of
impoverished North Korea, as was the case of the Resolution 1718.
One theory is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, amid rumors of failing
health, demonstrated his control of state affairs with the rocket launch, just
days before the North's parliament reelected him as the head of the all-powerful
National Defense Commission. Some observers believe he will nominate his third
and youngest son, Jong-un, as his successor in another dynastic power transfer.
Against this backdrop, Evans Revere, president of the New York-based Korea
Society, urged the U.S. and its allies to remain calm whatever threats Pyongyang
may make.
"The United States and others should respond calmly to this move and not
overreact," Revere said. "The United States and others should take appropriate
steps to deal with the reality we will face if the DPRK carries out its threats,
especially the possibility that the North may resume reprocessing of its spent
nuclear fuel and even conduct another nuclear test in the future."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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