U.S. welcomes reports on Kim Jong-il's acceptance of multilatral talks: Campbell

(ATTN: ADDS scholar's remarks at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The United States Friday welcomed reports that
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his intentions to resolve the North
Korean nuclear issue through both bilateral and multilateral talks.
"It sounds as if North Korea is underscoring that it will accept those
conditions," Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and
Pacific affairs, told reporters in Tokyo, according to a transcript released by
the State Department. Campbell visited Tokyo Wednesday to meet with Japanese
officials after the launch of the new Yukio Hatoyama government earlier this
week.
Campbell was talking about the U.S. position that any bilateral contact between
the U.S. and North Korea should be held only within the framework of six-party
talks on ending the North's nuclear ambitions.
"If we have any initial bilateral interaction with North Korea, it will be as a
means to get back to the six-party talks," he said. "We have no intention of
conducting bilateral negotiations with North Korea absent a six-party framework."
Kim's remarks, made earlier in the day when he met with a senior Chinese
official, Dai Bingguo, are seen as a major departure from the North's earlier
threat to abandon the six-party talks permanently, citing international sanctions
for its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.
U.S. President Barack Obama is considering whether to send his point man on North
Korea, Stephen Bosworth, to Pyongyang to persuade the North Koreans to return to
the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and
Russia.
U.S. officials have said a decision will be made after Obama and U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton meet with their counterparts from the other parties to
the multilateral talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York
next week.
Analysts say Bosworth may visit Pyongyang in late October or early November after
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao attends a ceremony in Pyongyang in early
October to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic
ties between the two communist allies.
"Our overall approach will be that any negotiations, fundamental negotiations
with North Korea, have to be done in a six-party framework," Campbell said. "But
within that context, there can be dialogue between the various parties not only
between North Korea and China; North Korea, South Korea; North Korea and Japan,
but also North Korea and the United States. But what we will not do is enter into
a separate bilateral diplomacy between the United States and North Korea outside
of the six-party framework."
Some analysts believe Obama has not yet made a decision on a possible trip to
Pyongyang by Bosworth due to conflicting opinions within his administration, with
some supporting active engagement and others calling for more time to press the
North harder.
Hardliners believe sanctions persuaded Kim to make conciliatory overtures after
months of provocations.
An overall arms embargo and economic sanctions were imposed under resolutions
after the North's missile and nuclear tests earlier this year, and Washington has
made it clear that it will continue sanctioning Pyongyang until it returns to the
six-party talks and take steps toward its denuclearization.
A visit to Pyongyang by Bosworth, however, may not produce a breakthrough due to
the North's reluctance to abandon its nuclear arsenal, citing U.S. hostility.
"I believe that the United States will maintain its principled position that
North Korea must return to six-party talks and that it must end its nuclear
weapons program," said David Straub, associate director of the Korean Studies
Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford
University. "If Special Representative Bosworth visits North Korea, I believe it
will be to deliver that message. Any breakthrough will depend on whether North
Korea is willing to change its position."
Straub, formerly on the Korea desk at the State Department, was still cautious.
"If the report is accurate, does it mean that North Korea will return to
six-party talks or does it intend to propose another multilateral format, or does
it simply mean that North Korea plans to talk to various countries bilaterally?
We just don't know," he said. "North Korea has variously said it is prepared to
consider giving up nuclear weapons and also that it is not."
On top of that, the North's intent to negotiate multilaterally should not be seen
as a compromise in substance, said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West
Center, Honolulu.
"This appears to be a concession by North Korea on the process, but there have
still been no concessions by North Korea on the substance," he said. "That will
be the hard part. I'm not expecting a breakthrough."
Obama and other U.S. officials have also said that they will not reward North
Korea just because it returns to the six-party talks, as the Bush administration
did.
"I believe North Korea hopes that the provocative actions of earlier this year
will have scared and softened up Washington to make additional concessions when
bilateral talks resume," Roy said. "But that is not likely, because the Obama
Administration has publicly committed itself not to make any additional
concessions to get back to the agreement of 2005."
The scholar downplayed Kim's remarks and predicted Obama will continue
sanctioning North Korea until Pyongyang re-commits to denuclearization, saying,
"It is not crucial anymore that Pyongyang agrees to return to six-party talks."
"Bilateral talks were probably going to happen anyway, even without this latest
bit of flexibility from North Korea," he said. "Washington had already created a
new formula of bilateral talks within the context of six-party talks, which meant
bilateral talks plus close consultations with the parties."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)