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

(ATTN: UPDATES with S. Korean nuke envoy's comments; TRIMS throughout)
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 was unclear when and how
the North will rejoin the six-party 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 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.
"It remains to be seen when and how the DPRK (North Korea) will return to the
six-party talks," Bosworth said. His comments suggested failure to secure the
unpredictable communist regime's definite promise to rejoin the talks.
Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang had raised hopes for a breakthrough in the stalemate
in the international process designed to denuclearize North Korea, but he
stressed he held "exploratory talks, not negotiations," in Pyongyang.
"It is certainly our hope, based on these discussions in Pyongyang, that
six-party talks can resume expeditiously, and we can get back to the important
work of denuclearization," he said.
He also 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 Bosworth-Kang meeting ushered in a higher-level dialogue
between Pyongyang and Washington under the Obama administration than talks
between Kim and Christopher Hill, then assistant secretary of state and
Washington's chief nuclear negotiator under the Bush government. Kang, who
negotiated the 2004 Agreed Framework on freezing the North's nuclear facilities,
is widely seen as an influential diplomat in the North who can affect leader Kim
Jong-il's decision.
Bosworth said the issue of restarting the six-party talks is "something that will
require further consultations among all six of us." The other participants are
South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
He added that he reiterated to North Korean officials Washington's plan to
provide Pyongyang with a comprehensive package of incentives, including 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 or the negotiation of 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.
North Korea has made no official announcement yet on the outcome of Bosworth's trip.
Meanwhile, South Korean officials said it is too early to call the results of
Bosworth's trip a success or failure.
"We think that (the North Korea-U.S. dialogue) was useful. But it is difficult
for now to predict what will happen," Seoul's top nuclear envoy, Wi Sung-lac,
said.
Another foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity, "We need to
see the situation in the coming weeks or months, as the two sides exchanged frank
opinions. For now, you may just regard it as a half-success," 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.
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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