Obama says two-way meeting with N. Korea could be useful: official

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday
bilateral dialogue between his country and North Korea could prove useful in
drawing the North back to six-party denuclearization talks, a senior U.S.
official said.
Obama made the remarks while meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao for one and
half hours in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. Climate Change Summit, the
official said, asking for anonymity.
"He (Obama) noted that bilateral talks between the U.S. and North Korea could be
useful if they contributed to restoration of that framework and a serious North
Korean commitment to those goals," the official said.
China supported Obama's view, the official said, noting China's long-standing
position that direct talks between the U.S. and North Korea would be valuable and
that they must be conducted in support of the six-party framework and
denuclearization.
"I'd say that view was on display today and we are of common mind on that," the
official said.
Washington officials have said they will make a decision on a possible trip to
Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy,
soon after Obama and Secretary of State Clinton meet in New York with their
counterparts from the other members of the six-party talks. The parties include
the Koreas, the U.S. China, Japan and Russia.
Clinton won South Korea's support for bilateral talks when she talked to South
Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan Monday in New York.
"No final decision has been taken at this juncture about the next steps and any
prospective diplomacy with North Korea," Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of
state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said, adding South Korea's underlying
message "was that they were prepared for the United States to engage in careful
bilateral interactions with North Korea."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il extended an invitation to Bosworth when former
U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang early last month to win the release
of two American journalists held for illegal entry.
Some analysts believe 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.
Kim is expected to meet Wen to give his opinion on the six-party talks, which
China has been hosting since their inception in 2003.
During his meeting with Hu, Obama "emphasized the necessity of the continuation
of the six-party talks and six-party framework; the necessity for North Korea to
honor the commitments that they made in the six-party process, in particular in
2005," according to the anonymous official.
The six-party deal signed in September 2005 calls for a massive economic aid,
diplomatic normalization and establishment of a permanent peace regime on the
Korean Peninsula to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean
War.
North Korea earlier quit the six-party talks citing U.N. sanctions imposed after
recent missile and nuclear tests, although North Korean leader Kim was reported
to have told a visiting Chinese official, Dai Bingguo, last week that Pyongyang
will engage in both bilateral and multilateral talks to resolve the standoff over
its nuclear programs.
Despite the North's recent conciliatory overtures -- which followed a series of
provocations earlier this year -- Obama "stressed the importance of the U.S. and
China continuing to vigorously implement the U.N. resolutions and for there to be
demonstrable solidarity between the U.S. and China on this issue because, absent
solidarity, that would provide openings for bad behavior on the part of the North
Koreans," the Obama administration official said.
Some U.S. officials say the North's recent conciliatory gestures are attributable
to the effective implementation of the sanctions, while others claim Kim Jong-il
has simply done enough to pave the way for a smooth power transition to his third
and youngest son, Jong-un, by demonstrating its nuclear and missile capability.
Also contributing to the possibility of bilateral talks between the U.S. and
North Korea is the appearance that Kim Jong-il is no longer in poor health.
The North Korean leader is believed to have suffered a stroke in August last
year, but he quelled suspicions over his health early last month when he met with
former President Clinton in Pyongyang for more than three hours.
Clinton said Monday he found Kim "alert, in better health than most people
thought, and clearly in command of the situation and clearly interested in
whether there was some positive outcomes, more positive than the ones that are
generated by their policies today."
Obama, for his part, said Sunday that Kim is "pretty healthy and in control."
"There's no doubt that this is somebody who, you know, I think for a while people
thought was slipping away," Obama said. "He's reasserted himself. It does appear
... He was more concerned about succession when he was sick, maybe less so now
that he's well."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)