U.S. to continue engaging N. Korea to reopen 6-way talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Friday it will continue to
engage North Korea until the North returns to six-party talks on ending its
nuclear ambitions.

"We will continue to engage with our six-party partners," State Department
spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We have to coordinate with all of them to discuss the
way forward. We will continue to engage North Korea as well."
Kelly said North Korea's initial response to the outcome of the trip to Pyongyang
by Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, "is not
surprising."
A statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry earlier in the day that the
sides reached a "common understanding" on the need to resume the six-party talks
and agreed to continue to "narrow down the remaining differences."
Kelly responded, "I think it accurately mirrors the understanding that Ambassador
Bosworth had. I am not describing it as positive or negative. I certainly
wouldn't describe it negative. But I am not going to say positive until we have
an agreement."
Bosworth concluded a three-day trip to Pyongyang Thursday without obtaining the
North's commitment to return to the six-party talks. The forum, involving the
United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas, has been deadlocked over
international sanctions for North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.
The U.S. point man on North Korea said in Seoul that he met with Kang Sok-ju,
first vice foreign minister in charge of nuclear issues, and other officials, and
that they "identified some common understandings on the need for, and the role
of, the six-party talks and the importance of implementation of the 2005 joint
statement."
"It remains to be seen" when the North will return to the six-party talks, he
said. "This is something that will require further consultations among all six of
us."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday described Bosworth's meeting with
North Korean officials as "quite positive," stressing the need to "take strategic
patience" in dealing with North Korea.
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, also depicted
the meeting as "constructive" and talked about the need to have another
high-level meeting with North Korea.
"We await more information from North Korea as to whether and how they will
proceed to come back to the six-party process," he said. "Whether that means, you
know, a phone call or another meeting, we'll wait and see."
Another official, asking anonymity, said the U.S. is "prepared for both of those
possibilities," including reopening of the multilateral nuclear talks or another
bilateral meeting.
A six-party deal signed in 2005 calls for the North's nuclear dismantlement in
return for provision of massive economic aid, normalization of ties between the
North and the U.S. and Japan and establishment of a peace regime to replace the
armistice signed at the end of Korean War in 1953.
Bosworth said that he discussed a peace treaty in Pyongyang.
"So once we have been able to reconvene the six-party process 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," he said.
North Korea blames the lack of a peace treaty for what is sees as U.S. hostility,
leading to U.N. sanctions, which prompted the North to boycott the six-party
talks.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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