N. Korea agrees on need for six-way nuke talks: Bosworth

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more comments, analysts' view, details)
By Lee Chi-dong and Tony Chang
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and the United States have reached "common
understandings" on the need to resume the six-party nuclear talks and implement a
2005 landmark deal on the North's denuclearization, a senior U.S. envoy said
Thursday after a three-day trip to Pyongyang aimed at reviving the dormant
multilateral forum.
In a carefully worded, rather equivocal announcement, however, U.S. President
Barack Obama's special envoy Stephen Bosworth said, "It remains to be seen when
and how the DPRK (North Korea) will return to the six-party talks." His comments
suggested failure to secure the unpredictable communist regime's definite promise
to rejoin the talks.
"We identified some common understandings on the need for and the role of the
six-party talks and the importance of the implementation of the 2005 Joint
Statement," the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy told
reporters, referring to a document in which the North pledged to abandon its
nuclear program in return for political and economic incentives. The North has
been boycotting the nuclear negotiations since the spring of this year, when the
U.N. condemned its long-range rocket launch. The North went on to conduct a
second nuclear test, frustrating the Obama administration that had sought to
engage America's traditional adversaries.
Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang raised hopes of a breakthrough in the stalemate in
the international process designed for Pyongyang's denuclearization.
He said he had "extensive and useful talks in a candid and businesslike fashion"
with the North's Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju and its top nuclear envoy, Kim
Kye-gwan.
The veteran diplomat avoided directly answering whether he had accomplished his
mission, saying it remains to be seen when and how the North will come back to
the talks. Further consultations are needed among relevant parties of the
negotiations also involving South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia, he added.
Bosworth said he reiterated to North Korean officials Washington's plan to
provide Pyongyang with a comprehensive package of incentives, including the
signing of a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War if Pyongyang
takes irreversible steps toward denuclearization.
"I communicated President's Obama's view that the complete denuclearization of
the Korean Peninsula is the fundamental undertaking of the six-party talks," he
said.
As Obama has made clear, he added, the U.S. is prepared to work with its allies
and partners in the region to offer North Korea a different future, and the
pre-condition for that is to "choose the door for dialogue and the six-party
talks and take irreversible steps for the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula."
"We discussed all of the elements of the Sept. 19 2005 statement and as we're all
aware in that statement, there is a commitment by all six parties to move ahead
on a peace regime for the Korean Peninsula to replace an armistice," he said. "So
once we have been able to reconvene the six-party talks and begin to gain
significant traction on the issue of denuclearization, I would expect that we
will all be prepared to discuss the evolution of a negotiation for a peace regime
for the Korean Peninsula."
Bosworth said he did not meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, as he did not ask
for it.
South Korean officials said it is too early to call the results of Bosworth's
trip a success or failure.
"We need to see the situation in the coming weeks, as the two sides exchanged
frank opinions. For now, you may just regard it as a half-success," a foreign
ministry official said, hinting at the possibility that North Korea and the U.S.
will have additional consultations to discuss detailed conditions for the
resumption of the nuclear talks.
Yoo Ho-yeol, professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, also said he
had the impression that Bosworth's dialogue with North Korean officials was not
that bad and did not cause new troubles.
"It appears there haven't been any tense parallel discussions or new conflict.
For the U.S.'s part, the fact that Bosworth met with Vice Foreign Minister Kang
Sok-ju was a feat in itself," he said. Kang is widely seen as an influential
diplomat in the North who can affect leader Kim Jong-il's decision.
He said the two sides are expected to hold follow-up discussions.
"Both sides may make contacts through their New York channel, or Bosworth could
possibly travel back to North Korea if needed. North Korea could contact
Washington after making an assessment of the latest meeting. China, which chairs
the six-party talks, could also seek opinions from the other members of the
talks. Of course this is a very optimistic forecast," Yoo said.
Larry Niksch, an Asia specialist at the U.S. Congressional Research Service, was
more skeptical.
He pointed out the North seems to be more interested in signing a peace treaty
through a bilateral bargain with the U.S. and being recognized as a nuclear power
like India and Pakistan than giving up its nuclear weapons.
"My view generally is, you can't make a rational case (that) North Korea intends
to give up its nuclear weapons programs. Now they may have decided not to
restart their nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, but there are too many other things
going on regarding nuclear programs. I don't think they have an intention to
give up," he said while on a visit here to attend a forum.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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