U.S. envoy due in Seoul for talks on reviving nuclear talks

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. delegation led by Stephen Bosworth, special envoy
on North Korea, was to arrive in Seoul on Friday afternoon for discussions on
ways to reactivate stalled denuclearization talks, officials said.

The inter-agency team, which includes Sung Kim, special envoy to the six-way
talks on the North's nuclear program, flew into Beijing on Thursday, the first
stop in its nine-day tour of Northeast Asia and Russia.
It is Bosworth's first trip to the region since North Korea fired a long-range
rocket in early April despite repeated warnings from the international community.

Doubts are growing over the future of the often-troubled six-way talks after
Pyongyang said it was quitting the negotiations, which also involve the United
States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. The North said it has resumed
activity at its Yongbyon reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The facility
had been disable under a landmark six-party deal.
North Korea also threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and develop a
uranium enrichment program.
Bosworth has no plans to travel to North Korea during his ongoing tour, according
to the U.S. State Department. In Seoul, he is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister
Yu Myung-hwan and top nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac. He will also meet Kim
Sung-hwan, senior secretary to President Lee Myung-bak for foreign affairs and
national security, later Friday.
"He will have personal schedules on the weekend and fly to Japan on Monday," an
official at the U.S. Embassy here said. Bosworth is known to have a number of
acquaintances here as he served as the U.S. ambassador to Seoul from 1997-2000.
South Korean officials said their consultations with Bosworth will focus on
discussing how to convince the North to return to the negotiating table.
"His trip is the first opportunity for face-to-face consultations among related
nations since the rocket launch on the current situation and exchange opinions on
a strategy to deal with it," a senior South Korean foreign ministry official
said, asking not to be named.
He expected no immediate breakthrough in the impasse, saying the North seems to
be trying to abandon the six-way talks.
The official emphasized, however, that it is premature to talk about an
alternative to the six-year-old format.
"We are in a difficult phase. But it is time to concentrate on reviving the
six-way talks rather than thinking about an alternative," he said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)