Bosworth to begin Asian tour to discuss resumption of 6-way talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. point man on North Korea, Ambassador
Stephen Bosworth, will travel to Asian capitals in the next few days, but
Pyongyang is not on his itinerary, the State Department said Thursday.

"I would expect that the ambassador will travel to the region for consultations
in the coming days," said Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public
affairs. "This trip, when it happens, and when that decision is made, will be to
consult with the key countries in the region who have been part of the six-party
process."
Crowley said that Bosworth will neither go to Pyongyang nor meet with North
Korean officials elsewhere.
"He will not go to North Korea," the spokesman said. "I do not envision that it
will include discussions with anyone from North Korea."
Crowley denied reports that North Korea had extended an invitation to Bosworth,
special representative for North Korea policy, and Sung Kim, special envoy for
the six-party talks, to discuss the talks on the North's denuclearization, which
also involve South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
"We haven't received a formal invitation," he said.
The multilateral talks have been stalled as a result of international sanctions
slapped on North Korea after its nuclear and missile tests in recent months.
Reports said that North Korea had extended an invitation when former U.S.
President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang to win the release of two American
journalists held for illegally entering the North. North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il met with Clinton for more than three hours, calling for a resumption of
dialogue.
North Korea has made a series of reconciliatory overtures in recent weeks after
provoking the international community with nuclear and missile tests and threats
of nuclear war, which triggered U.N. sanctions.
The reclusive regime has allowed the resumption of reunions of families separated
by the 1950-53 Korean War, inter-Korean tour projects and work at the joint
industrial park in the North's border town of Kaesong.
Those projects were suspended or faltered last year soon after the inauguration
of the hardline Lee Myung-bak government, which cut off aid and economic
cooperation, first demanding Pyonyang's commitment to nuclear dismantlement.
North Korea also sent a high-level delegation to South Korea to mourn the death
of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, with whom North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il held the first inter-Korean summit in 2000.
Lee received the North Korean delegation in the first high-level contact between
the two Koreas since his taking office in February last year. They discussed
"progress in inter-Korean cooperation," officials said, but apparently did not
agree on a summit due to the North's refusal to discuss its nuclear programs.
North Korea skirted the nuclear issue at the two previous inter-Korean summits
with Lee's liberal predecessors, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, focusing instead
on food and energy aid and economic cooperation.
Bosworth was part of the 10-member U.S. delegation to the state funeral of former
President Kim in Seoul last week and met with Wi Sung-lak, South Korea's point
man on the North Korean nuclear issue, to reaffirm their position that North
Korea should return to the six-party talks.
North Korea wants to deal with Washington bilaterally, but the U.S. insists on
having two-way talks only within the six-nation framework.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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