Clinton calls on N. Korea to return to 6-way talks, offers incentives

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday
called on North Korea to come back to the six-party talks, offering a set of
incentives in return for its denuclearization.

"We are going to go with a very clear message that there are significant benefits
to North Korea if they recommit to the verifiable, irreversible denuclearization
of the Korean Peninsula," Clinton said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio,
referring to the upcoming trip to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, special
representative for North Korea policy, early next month.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang,
set for Dec. 8, to lure the reluctant North back to the six-party talks that have
been deadlocked over international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.
State Department officials have said the U.S. point man on North Korea will stay
in Pyongyang for one-and-a-half days, leading a delegation of four or five
inter-agency officials, including Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for the six-party
talks.
"On behalf of the United States, we would explore some of the issues which they
have raised continually with us over the years; namely, normalization of
relations, a peace treaty instead of an armistice, economic development
assistance," Clinton said. "All of that would be open for discussion. But the
North Koreans have to commit to denuclearization. And we also think it's
important to do so within the context of the Six-Party Talks."
Clinton was discussing benefits pledged under a six-party deal signed in 2005
involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
In anger over the sanctions, North Korea has said it will permanently boycott the
six-party talks, which it said have been used to suppress the North, and demanded
that the nuclear issue be solved through bilateral talks with the U.S.
The visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month touched off a
breakthrough, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his willingness to
return to the six-party talks pending the outcome of bilateral talks with the
U.S.
While in Beijing on the third leg of his weeklong four-nation Asian tour, Obama
on Tuesday "expressed appreciation for Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Pyongyang,
in which he came back with a statement from Kim Jong-il saying that North Korea
was prepared to move towards six-party talks under certain conditions."
The premier of China, the host of the nuclear talks, offered hefty economic aid,
including construction of a bridge over the Aprok River linking the two communist
allies on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral
ties.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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