N. Korea to return to 6-way talks depending on talks with U.S.: KCNA

(ATTN: CLARIFIES source of Kim's remarks; ADDS expert's remarks at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has said his
country will return to the six-party talks on its nuclear disarmament depending
on the outcome of discussions with the United States, the North's official news
service reported.
While meeting with visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Monday, Kim
"expressed our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of
the DPRK-U.S. talks," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a dispatch
from Pyongyang. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
"The six-party talks are also included in the multilateral talks," the KCNA said,
paraphrasing Kim.
Kim's remarks come amid optimism that Wen's visit to North Korea may produce a
breakthrough in the six-party talks, which the North declared "dead" earlier this
year after being punished with U.N. sanctions for its long-range rocket test. The
talks are hosted by Beijing.
The North Korean leader also reiterated Pyongyang's position on denuclearization.
"Our efforts to attain the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula remain
unchanged," Kim said. "The denuclearization of the peninsula was the behest of
President Kim Il-sung," North Korea's late founder and Kim Jong-il's father.
Kim also denounced what he called U.S. hostility toward the North.
"The hostile relations between the DPRK and the United States should be converted
into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," he said, according
to the KCNA.
North Korea has said the six-party talks were being used as a tool of oppression,
and insists on resolving the nuclear issue through bilateral talks with the U.S.
U.S. officials have said they are awaiting the outcome of Wen's visit before
deciding whether to send Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea
policy, to the North Korean capital to try to persuade the North to come back to
the six-nation forum.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a daily news briefing earlier in
the day that "no decisions have been made" about Bosworth's possible Pyongyang
trip.
Asked if the U.S. wants Wen's visit to change the North's attitude on the
six-party talks, Kelly said, "Well, I hope so. I mean, that is our goal, that
North Korea will return to the six-party talks. And that's the goal we share with
the Chinese."
The spokesman said, "We, of course, encourage any kind of dialogue that would
help us lead to our ultimate goal that's shared by all the partners in the
six-party talks, which, of course, is the complete and verifiable
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
The North Korean leader made a rare appearance at Pyongyang's airport to greet
Wen on Sunday, a protocol usually reserved for heads of state.
Wen said he "appreciated the DPRK's commitment to a nuclear-free peninsula and
multilateral dialogue, including the six-party talks, in realizing this goal,"
China's Xinhua News Agency said.
John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Washington-based
Institute for Policy Studies, said Kim's remarks were aimed at pleasing China,
its idealogical ally and biggest benefactor.
"Of course, North Korea recognizes that China is the country most invested in the
multilateral process," he said. "So, it will tell China what China wants to hear:
namely that multilateral negotiations are important."
Feffer, however, added that the apparent policy swift by the North is also aimed
at circumventing international as well as Chinese pressure to come back to the
six-party talks.
"North Korea has been willing to participate in multilateral talks as long as it
achieves its objectives through bilateral discussions, and the multilateral talks
validate these bilateral understandings," he said.
"In other words, the six-party talks are the price North Korea is willing to pay
to sit down with the United States face-to-face and work out the broad outlines
of an agreement."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)