(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Dec. 12)

Momentum for talks

Stephen Bosworth, special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, has failed
to get the communist country to promise to go back to the multilateral
denuclearization talks. Returning to Seoul from a three-day trip to Pyongyang, he
said Thursday that the two sides had reached a ``common understanding" on the
need to resume the six-party talks and the importance of the implementation of
the 2005 joint statement on the North's commitment to denuclearization.

The results of his visit fell short of expectations of a breakthrough in the
nuclear standoff with the North. It would be rather naive to expect immediate
progress from the first direct dialog between Washington and Pyongyang since
President Obama took office in January. The U.S. envoy just described his talks
with North Korean officials, including First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju,
as ``very useful." Such a diplomatic expression usually refers to a lack of any
substantive outcome.
However, the one-on-one meeting does not necessarily mean a total failure. It is
rather accepted as a half success. U.S. officials are trying to portray it as a
positive step toward the resumption of the six-nation talks. What's important is
to keep the momentum for dialog between the U.S. and North Korea to revive the
multilateral process and achieve the North's irreversible and verifiable
denuclearization.
It is noteworthy that Philip Crowley, assistant U.S. secretary of state for
public affairs, characterized the meeting as a ``good start" although he said
that there is still much work to be done. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also
called the bilateral talks ``quite positive." Noting that the bottom line is that
they were not negotiations but exploratory talks, she said, ``They were intended
to do exactly what they did. The approach that our administration is taking is of
strategic patience in close coordination with our six-party allies."
It is very important to remain patient in not only bilateral but also
multilateral talks with North Korea to prod it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Haste makes waste and no deal is better than a wrong deal. It is necessary to
send a consistence message to Pyongyang that it should come back to the six-party
talks unconditionally to faithfully make good on its denuclearization
commitments. In this context, the U.S. needs to step up cooperation with
six-party members, including South Korea, Japan and China, to lure the North back
to the multilateral negotiations.
Possibilities are open for more bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang
in which the two sides will narrow their differences. The North first proposed
the face-to-face meeting since it began to feel the pinch from the U.S.-led U.N.
sanctions on the North for its long-range missile launches and second atomic bomb
test early this year. The Kim Jong-il regime has called for a peace treaty and
diplomatic normalization with the U.S. as a prerequisite to the revival of the
stalled six-party process. But the Obama administration sticks to its position
that such matters had better be discussed in the multilateral talks.
It is not easy to let North Korea change itself and get back on the path to
denuclearization immediately. But we have to wait for the North to make a
decisive step. The North's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a foreign
ministry spokesman as saying Friday that the two sides held ``practical and frank
discussions" and took the opportunity to establish a ``mutual understanding." The
report is seen as a positive sign that the North is ready to have additional
dialog with the U.S. to open the way for its return to the six-party talks. Keep
the momentum for dialog and resume the multilateral talks as soon as possible.
(END)

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