U.S. to continue sanctioning N. Korea until it returns to 6-way talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- The United States Friday reiterated that it will
continue sanctioning North Korea until it returns to the six-party talks and take
steps toward its denuclearization.

"We are willing to engage North Korea, we are willing to talk to North Korea, but
we will continue to use sanctions to enforce the U.N. Security Council
resolutions and to have North Korea pay a significant price for its current
intransigence," Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs,
told reporters.
Crowley's remarks came one day after the announcement that Philip Goldberg,
coordinator for the implementation of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, will lead an
interagency delegation to Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Bangkok next week to
discuss how to effectively implement international sanctions on North Korea for
its nuclear and missile tests.
Goldberg is in charge of imposing an arms embargo and financial and other
sanctions on North Korea under U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted for
North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in recent years, with the most recent one
adopted in June after North Korea's second nuclear test May 25. The first was in
2006.
"The resolutions are the resolutions, and they remain in effect until those kinds
of irreversible steps are taken to deal with the denuclearization issue and the
missile proliferation, and all of the issues dealt with in the resolutions,"
Goldberg said Thursday.
Such remarks come amid growing optimism over U.S-North Korea relations after
former U.S. President Bill Clinton's recent trip to Pyongyang to win the release
of two American journalists.
Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for more than three hours,
during which Kim proposed better relations with Washington, according to U.S.
officials who debriefed Clinton's entourage.
North Korea has said in recent months that it will boycott the multilateral
nuclear talks for good and demanded a bilateral dialogue with the U.S.
Crowley rebuffed the North's demand, saying, "The six-party process is the most
effective way to deal with the issues that we have with North Korea ... we would
encourage North Korea, as we have continually over the past few months, to come
back to the six-party process."
The spokesman added, "Within the six-party process there can be, you know,
bilateral discussions not just with the United States but other countries as
well."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

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