N. Korea should return to 6-way talks for improved ties: White House

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States will deal with North Korea
through six-party talks despite Pyongyang's hope to improve ties with Washington
through bilateral negotiations, National Security Adviser James Jones said
Sunday.

"The North Koreans have indicated they would like a new relationship, a better
relationship with the United States," Jones said in an interview with "Fox News
Sunday."
Jones was speaking on the basis of the information he got from former U.S.
President Bill Clinton who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for three and
half hours in Pyongyang last week before bringing home two American journalists
held there for illegally entering North Korea in March.
"They've always advocated for bilateral engagement," he said. "We have put on the
table in the context of the talks we would be happy to do that if, in fact, they
would rejoin the talks."
North Korea has said it will boycott the six-party talks for good citing "U.S.
hostility" after the U.N. Security Council slapped an arms embargo and financial
sactions on North Korea for the North's nuclear and missile tests in recent
months.
The North Korean provocations are seen as an attempt by the ailing North Korean
leader to help one of his three sons consolidate power in an unprecedented third
generation dynastic power transition in the reclusive communist sate.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, however, is still in control, Jones said.
"Preliminary reports appear that Kim Jong-il is in full control of his
organization, his government," he said. "He certainly appears to still be the one
who is in charge."
Kim Jong-il is said to have begun the process to transfer power to his third and
youngest son Jong-un since last summer when he apparently suffered a stroke.
Recent reports said North Korean authorities are promoting the line that the
26-year-old heir organized the visit to Pyongyang by Clinton so the former U.S.
President could "apologize" to Kim Jong-il for the journalists' illegal border
crossing.
Analysts say the success in the unprecedented third generation dynastic power
transfer depends on whether Kim Jong-il can live long enough to help consolidate
the heir's power over the powerful North Korean military elite.
Kim Jong-il himself spent two decades as the North's No. 2 man and an heir to his
father Kim Il-sung, the founding father of communist North Korea, before Kim
Il-sung died in 1994.
Jones, meanwhile, insisted that Clinton brought no message to Kim Jong-il from
U.S. President Barack Obama.
"There was no official message sent via the former president and there were no
promises, other than to make sure that the two young girls were reunited with
their families," he said.
Pyongyang said Clinton had conveyed a "verbal message" from Obama, although U.S.
officials have categorized the trip as a "private mission" to win the release of
the American journalists.
Jones remarks come amid growing optimism that the landmark trip by Clinton might
lead to a breakthrough in the negotiations over North Korea's nuclear and missile
programs.
Jones himself expressed optimism last week.
"We certainly hope it could lead to other good things, but we won't know that for
a while," Jones told reporters Thursday. "Who knows where the future will lead."
Reports indicate that Kim Jong-il proposed a "grand deal" to Obama through the
former U.S. president, whom Kim had reportedly chosen as the only emissary who
could help release the journalists.
Clinton will likely meet with Obama in the coming days to brief about his trip.
South Korean and U.S. officials said they have been discussing a "comprehensive
package," a possible breakaway from a six-party deal on the North's
denuclearization that calls for action for action in the North's nuclear
dismantlement.
Critics have said North Korea has used the six-party deal as a way to buy time
over the past six years for its eventual nuclear armament.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently repeated the principles of the
six-party deal by promising 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."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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