N. Korea not yet indicated it will return to 6-way talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has given no indication that it will return to the six-party talks, the State Department said Monday, even as the U.S. point man on North Korea is set to visit Pyongyang to attempt to revive the nuclear negotiations.

Ambassador Stephen Bosworth will visit North Korea Dec. 8.
"I'm not aware of any kind of diplomatic exchange like that per se, but that is
the main goal of Ambassador Bosworth's trip, to get them to return to the
six-party talks," spokesman Ian Kelly said, when asked if Pyongyang has indicated
that it will come back to the multilateral forum. "I am not aware that they have
indicated that."
Kelly's remarks come amid conflicting reports on North Korea's intentions, with
some saying Pyongyang will come back after at least a couple of bilateral talks
with the U.S.
Others say North Korea is interested more in establishing a peace regime to
replace the fragile armistice signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and in
resolving its nuclear issue through bilateral discussion with the U.S.
In Seoul only weeks ago, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the trip to
Pyongyang by Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, to
attempt to lure the reluctant North back to the table. North Korea has boycotted
the talks in response to international sanctions for its nuclear and missile
tests.
State Department officials have said Bosworth will stay in Pyongyang for two
days, leading a delegation of four or five inter-agency officials, including Sung
Kim, U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week offered North Korea "significant
benefits" in return for "the verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula."
Clinton said the U.S. "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."
She added, "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 by
the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
In anger over U.N. sanctions, North Korea vowed to permanently boycott the
six-party talks, which it called a tool of suppression, and demanded that the
nuclear issue be resolved through bilateral talks with the U.S.
More recently, however, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his willingness
to return to the six-party talks pending the outcome of bilateral discussions
with the U.S.
The reclusive North Korean leader made the overtures in early October when he met
with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Pyongyang on the occasion of the 60th
anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties.
The premier of China, the host of the nuclear talks, at the time offered hefty
economic aid, including construction of a bridge over the Aprok River linking the
two communist allies.
In Beijing on his recent Asia trip, Obama "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."
hdh@yna.co.kr