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

(ATTN: UPDATES with comments by Clinton, Bosworth, other details)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North
Korea policy, was to arrive in Seoul on Friday afternoon for discussions on ways
to reactivate stalled denuclearization talks, officials said.

In Beijing, the first stop in his nine-day tour of Northeast Asia and Russia,
Bosworth reaffirmed that Washington is willing to engage in both multilateral and
bilateral talks with Pyongyang to break the stalemate.
The trip is his first to the region since North Korea fired a long-range rocket
in early April despite repeated warnings from the international community.
"We had extensive discussion of where we are and talked about the way forward,"
he told reporters after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and
Vice Foreign Foreign Minister Wu Dawei on Thursday night. Wu chairs the six-way
talks on North Korean denuclearization also joined by South Korea, Russia and
Japan.
"The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and
bilaterally with North Korea and we believe very strongly that the solution to
the tensions and problems of the area now lies best in dialogue and negotiation,"
he said.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for patience in dealing
with North Korea.
"We have to try to get the North Koreans back into the Six-Party Talk framework
and continue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We may have to show
some patience before that is achieved. But we agree on the goal that we are
aiming for," she said in a joint press briefing with her Russian counterpart
Sergey Lavrov.
Clinton said she has no plan to visit Pyongyang for now, adding Bosworth is
traveling to Asia on her behalf. Bosworth does not plan to visit North Korea
during his ongoing tour, however, according to the State Department. He is
accompanied by Sung Kim, special envoy to the six-way talks, and other U.S.
government officials.
Doubts are growing over the future of the often-troubled six-way talks after
Pyongyang said it was quitting the negotiations. The North said it has resumed
activity at its Yongbyon reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The facility
was being disabled under a landmark six-party deal.
North Korea also threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and build a
light-water reactor, which requires developing a uranium enrichment program.
In Seoul, Bosworth is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and top
nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac. He will also meet Kim Sung-hwan, senior
presidential secretary 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 since the rocket launch for face-to-face
consultations among related nations on the current situation and to 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)