Bosworth to discuss carrots and sticks for N. Korea during Asia trip

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- Senior U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth will discuss "carrots
and sticks" for North Korea that may help coax the communist nation into
rejoining the six-way disarmament talks during his regional tour, officials here
said Thursday.

Bosworth, Washington's point man on Pyongyang, was set to arrive in Beijing later
Thursday in his first trip to Northeast Asia since North Korea's long-range
rocket launch early last month. He is scheduled to visit Seoul from Friday till
next Monday before making continued trips to Tokyo and Moscow.
"The purpose of his trip is to exchange notes with the other related nations on
how to resume the six-way talks," a South Korean government official said on the
customary condition of anonymity. "To be mainly discussed are incentives for
North Korea and also ways to put pressure on it."
North Korea announced a plan to quit the nuclear negotiations in anger over the
U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch. It has
reversed the disabling of its key plutonium-producing facilities in Yongbyon and
even threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and fire more ballistic
missiles.
North Korea has increased activities at its northeastern area where it detonated
a nuclear bomb in October 2006, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an
unidentified government source.
Skepticism is growing about the possibility that the North will return to the
six-way talks in the near future.
The official said Bosworth is expected to discuss the feasibility of holding
five-party talks without North Korea as a way of persuading it to return to the
six-way talks.
"It is one of various options. South Korea supports such a five-way meeting, as
it can demonstrate the unity of the five countries in dealing with North Korea,"
the official said. "The U.S. is not opposed to the idea."
He pointed out that a five-nation working group meeting on energy aid in June
last year was "very useful."
At that time, working-level officials from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia
and Japan had a separate meeting in Seoul a day before holding a six-way
gathering also involving North Korea at the inter-Korean truce village of
Panmunjom on how to facilitate the energy assistance for Pyongyang promised under
an aid-for-denuclearization deal.
"It was very useful for the five parties to hammer out a proposal to be presented
in talks with North Korea," he said.
But it is uncertain whether China, host of the six-way talks, will accept a
formal five-party meeting of top negotiators in the absence of their North Korean
counterpart.
When North Korea stayed away from the bargaining table in 2006, South Korea and
the U.S. pushed for five-nation talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional
Forum held in Kuala Lumpur. But China was opposed to the plan, saying it may
antagonize the North and have a negative impact on the six-party talks.
Many agree that consultations between the U.S. and China are important in taking
a coordinated approach towards the North. As North Korea's biggest benefactor and
its closely ally, China has more influence over North Korea than any other
country.
China often played a role in breaking an impasse in the six-way talks by sending
a high-level envoy to North Korea.
South Korea's top nuclear negotiator openly expressed hopes for Beijing's role
once again.
Bilateral talks between North Korea and China or the U.S. could be "useful as
long as it serves a conduit for a return to six-party talks," Wi Sung-lac said in
an interview with the Financial Times.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing also said that China is likely to dispatch a
minister-level envoy to Pyongyang sooner or later in an effort to resume the
nuclear talks. Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese communist party's international
department, is a candidate, according to the sources.
South Korean government officials said they have no information on such a plan.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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