Clinton urges N. Korea to return to 6-way talks

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, July 26 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on
North Korea Sunday to return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear
ambitions amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula due to Pyongyang's
recent nuclear and missile tests.
"We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of
an international effort that will lead to denuclearization," Clinton said on the
NBC television program "Meet the Press."
Clinton also said the U.S. will neither accept any "half measures" nor reward
"their behavior," referring to the North's provocations in recent months,
including its second nuclear test after one in 2006, a barrage of medium- and
short-range missile firings and threats to end the six-party talks and stage a
nuclear war.
The provocations resulted in the U.N. Security Council imposing financial
sanctions, an overall arms embargo and cargo interdictions on the high seas to
prevent proliferation of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, banned under
a U.N. resolution adopted after the North's May 25 nuclear test.
Speaking to reporters in Phuket, Thailand, last week, North Korean Ambassador Ri
Hung-sik said, "The six-party talks are already dead" due to Washington's
"hostile policy" toward Pyongyang, and dismissed as "nonsense" Clinton's
statement that "full normalization of relations, a permanent peace regime, and
significant energy and economic assistance are all possible in the context of
full and verifiable denuclearization."
Attending the annual ASEAN Regional Forum on the Thai resort island, Clinton also
threatened that North Korea "will face international isolation and the
unrelenting pressure of global sanctions" until it agrees to denuclearization.
In a rare press availability in New York on Saturday, the North Korean ambassador
to the United Nations, Sin Son-ho, reiterated Pyongyang's position of boycotting
the six-party talks, saying, "The six-party talks are gone forever."
Sin, however, said Pyongyang is ready to talk to Washington. "We are not against
a dialogue. We are not against any negotiation for the issues of common concern."
In the interview with NBC, Clinton expressed satisfaction with China's attitude
toward the North, which she described as "extremely positive and productive."
"We have been extremely gratified by their forward-leaning commitment to
sanctions and the private messages they have conveyed to the North Koreans," she
said. "They (North Koreans) don't have any friends left. I think they are very
isolated now. I saw that when I was at the ASEAN meeting, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations."
China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, is considered key to the
implementation of any sanctions on North Korea, an isolated and impoverished
state that relies heavily on its communist neighbor for energy, food and other
items.
Beijing has been regarded as lukewarm in implementing previous sanctions under
U.N. resolutions against North Korea so as not to provoke the North for fear of
being flooded with refugees and any contingencies that may destabilize regional
security at a time crucial for China, which is trying to emerge as a major
economic power in the coming decades.
North Korea will likely be a major topic when Clinton and U.S. Treasury Secretary
Tim Geithner meet with their Chinese counterparts in Washington for two days from
Monday for the first U.S.-China strategic dialogue.
"I would think there will be significant time devoted to the situation in North
Korea," Philip Crowley, U.S. assistant secretary of state for public affairs,
said Friday. "I think that there's just ... ongoing dialogue comparing notes in
terms of implementation of 1874 and taking stock of whatever developments have
occurred since they last met."
Clinton said on NBC that Myanmar has now also joined international efforts to
sanction North Korea.
She was apparently referring to a North Korean cargo ship that was possibly
heading to Myanmar, but returned home recently after being pursued by U.S. Navy
vessels operating under an interdiction mandate imposed by the U.N. Security
Council.
Clinton last week expressed "growing concerns" over "military cooperation between
North Korea and Burma, which we take very seriously."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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