U.S. repeats bilaterals within six-party format: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- The United States Thursday called on North Korea
to return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions, repeating that
bilateral negotiations are possible only through the six-party format.

"We are perfectly willing to have bilateral talks, you know, with North Korea, as
we've said many times, within the larger framework of the six-party process,"
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "We believe that the six-party
process remains the best mechanism to resolve the questions that we have, the
tensions that we have, the issues that we have with North Korea."
The spokesman's remarks came as North Korean diplomats called on New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson Wednesday to convey the message that the Obama administration
should begin a two-way dialogue for the North's denuclearization.
Richardson, once nominated by Obama as commerce secretary, met with Kim
Myong-gil, deputy chief of the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New
York, in Santa Fe Wednesday. After the meeting, he said the North Koreans wanted
to "resume a dialogue" and that he would convey that to the Obama administration.
Crowley said that the U.S. will continue imposing sanctions on North Korea under
U.S. resolutions adopted after North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in recent
years until Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks and take denuclearization
steps.
Philip Goldberg, coordinator for the implementation of U.N. sanctions on North
Korea, left Washington Tuesday, leading an interagency delegation to Singapore,
Bangkok, Seoul and Tokyo to discuss ways to effectively sanction the North.
"We will continue to vigorously enforce sanctions to convince them that the path
that we have outlined is preferable to the path that they desire," Crowley said.
"If North Korea comes back to the six-party process, demonstrates that they are
willing to take the kinds of affirmative steps the international community has
laid out, then in fact they can have a number of bilateral discussions and
address the concerns that they have, the concerns that we have."
Richardson, former U.N. ambassador, meanwhile, urged Washington to talk to
Pyongyang.
"My point here is this is the time to negotiate with them, in a tough way,
possibly bilaterally, face-to-face, but within the six-party talks, which is
consistent with our policy," Richardson told Fox News. "I think they were just
sending a signal. And the signal is the atmosphere for talks is a lot better.
They felt the Clinton visit, to get the two Americans out, went well."
The governor, who successfully negotiated the release of two American citizens
held in North Korea in the 1990s, was discussing the recent gestures by North
Korea to improve ties with South Korea and the U.S. after escalating tensions in
the Korean Peninsula with nuclear and missile tests in recent months.
"They've been recently sending signals, the North Koreans, like allowing a
delegation of North Koreans to pay their respects to the South Korean president
who just passed away," he said. "They released a South Korean detainee from North
Korea. You know, there's just a lot of positive steps that are taking place."
He said the visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton to win the
release of the two American journalists paved the way for rapprochement between
Washington and Pyongyang. Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for
three hours and briefed Obama Tuesday amid reports that Kim proposed a bilateral
dialogue.
"I think the Obama administration, by sending President Clinton, not a member of
the government, to get them out, worked," Richardson said. "And it has improved
the atmosphere for talks and my point is, let's take advantage of it."
Analysts say that now is the time for Kim Jong-il to reach out to the outside
world as he has shown all the capabilities of the North with its recent nuclear
and missile tests, apparently to help consolidate his power for a smooth
transition to his third and youngest son Jong-un, 26.
U.S. officials who debriefed Clinton said that Kim Jong-il still is in firm
control of the North despite his weakening health after apparently suffering a
stroke last summer.
"So now we need a new path, a new dialogue that involves these same tough
standards, but getting them to curb their nuclear ambitions," Richardson said.
"Kim Jong-il, you know, he looks like he's turning over power to one of his sons,
so possibly there is the potential for a change. We don't know that, but my point
is it's best to talk to them and not to isolate them. Isolating them has not
helped."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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