(LEAD) U.S. urges N. Korea to abide by multi-party denuclearization deal

(ATTN: ADDS Foreign Policy report at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- The United States Tuesday urged North Korea to
return to the six-party talks and abide by the multiparty deal Pyongyang signed
for its denuclearization.

"I'll say as a matter of principle that reprocessing plutonium is contrary to
North Korea's own commitments that it committed to in the 2005 Joint Statement,
and also would be a violation of various U.N. Security Council resolutions,"
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "I think everybody should be careful
and ratchet down the rhetoric and not take any actions that would contribute to
tension in the region."
Kelly was responding to North Korea's announcement earlier in the day that it has
completed reprocessing all 8,000 spent fuel rods extracted from its only
operating nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, north of its capital, Pyongyang, and made
achievements in weaponizing the plutonium.
The reactor and other nuclear facilities were being dismantled under the 2005
deal signed by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia until early this
year, when Pyongyang boycotted the six-party talks, citing U.N. sanctions for its
nuclear and missile tests.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il recently agreed to return to the six-party talks
pending the outcome of expected bilateral talks with the U.S. The North has
extended an invitation to Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North
Korea policy, which Washington is still weighing.
Reports have said that Sung Kim, special envoy for six-party talks, and Ri Gun,
director general of the North American affairs bureau of North Korea's foreign
ministry, reached an agreement for Bosworth to visit Pyongyang later this month.
The diplomats met on the margins of academic seminars in San Diego and New York
last week.
Kelly said that Kim and Ri "did have a useful discussion," adding, "We took the
opportunity in that meeting to reaffirm our commitment to a multilateral solution
to the tension in the region and a resumption of the six-party talks."
The spokesman reiterated Washington's position that it is ready to talk to North
Korea bilaterally within the context of the six-party talks, but added, "We have
not decided on when and where we will have these bilateral talks."
Foreign Policy magazine reported in its Monday edition that Ri agreed to "have
exactly two formal bilateral meetings with the United States before returning to
a multilateral forum."
Citing anonymous sources, the magazine also said that, during the meetings with
Kim, Ri concurred that Bosworth will meet with Kang Sok-ju, North Korea's first
vice foreign minister, who is the immediate superior of Kim Kye-gwan, head of the
North Korean delegation to the six-party talks.
"Bosworth's visit would be seen as a failure unless some demonstrable progress
was made and it is widely believed that only the top officials in Kim Jong-il's
regime have real negotiating authority," the magazine said. "By meeting with
Kang, Bosworth could leapfrog Ri and his boss, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kim Kye-gwan."
Ri, however, "demurred" on Kim's demand that the North abide by the 2005 nuclear
deal which calls for North Korea's denuclearization in return for a massive
economic aid, diplomatic recognition and establishment of a permanent peace
regime to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
"They wanted to resume talks based on the idea of denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula, a nuanced but important distinction," the magazine said, noting the
North's intentions to get rid of any nuclear threat from the U.S.
North Korea has often demanded that its nuclear program be handled in the context
of global nuclear disarmament, and insisted that the U.S. back down from its
"hostile" policy.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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