N. Korea agreed to discuss uranium program at 6-way talks: Bosworth

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's North Korea envoy
said Wednesday that Pyongyang has agreed to discuss its uranium-based nuclear
program in future six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.
"It clearly will be on the agenda when the talks resume," Stephen Bosworth,
special representative for North Korea policy, told reporters. "They have agreed
that the uranium enrichment program is on the agenda when we resume the six-party
talks."
North Korea said in September that it has entered the final stage of uranium
enrichment, another source for making nuclear weapons, and is building more
nuclear weapons with spent fuel rods extracted from its plutonium-producing
reactor.
North Korea had denied the existence of the uranium-based nuclear program, which
ignited the second North Korean nuclear crisis in late 2002. The secret uranium
enrichment program led the Bush administration to abolish the 1994 Agreed
Framework, which called for the provision of two light-water reactors to North
Korea, along with energy and economic aid, in return for the North's freezing of
its plutonium-producing reactor.
Pyongyang in early 2003 expelled international nuclear monitors and abandoned the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It agreed to join the first six-party talks in
August 2003 at the behest of China, its staunchest communist ally.
At the news conference arranged just one day after he returned from a three-day
North Korean trip and visits to Asian capitals, Bosworth did not confirm reports
that he carried a letter from Obama to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, just
saying, "I am the message."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, however, said, "I can only confirm there
was such a letter, but I cannot discuss the content or the tone."
Obama's predecessors, Presidents Bush and Clinton, sent letters to Kim toward the
end of their tenures after exhausting attempts at diplomacy.
Bosworth said he did not bring back a return letter from the North Korean leader,
noting, "I did not ask to meet with him, and I did not meet with him."
He said he conveyed "very directly to the North Korean leadership a vision for
the future which would be a lot different than the present or the past, and ways
in which we could improve both our bilateral relationship and improve North
Korea's overall relationships within Northeast Asia."
He said he expects the six-party talks to resume sooner or later, saying, "I
think there is that prospect."
Until resumption of the nuclear talks and the North taking substantial steps for
its denuclearization, the U.S. will continue sanctions on North Korea, Bosworth
said. He noted the cargo plane impounded in Bangkok Saturday while carrying 35
tons of North Korean weapons to an unknown destination.
"We think this is a good example of why sanctions are effective and the
importance of sanctions," he said. "The North Koreans come back to the six-party
process, we resume significant progress on denuclearization and then the Security
Council will evaluate the status of the sanctions."
Arms sales are one of the major sources of revenue for North Korea, suspected of
being behind nuclear and missile proliferation in Syria, Iran, Pakistan and
several other countries in the Middle East.
On the reports that he has agreed to North Korea's demand that they have
four-party talks on forging a peace treaty to replace the fragile armistice that
ended the 1950-53 Korean War, Bosworth said, "Obviously, only four of the
countries would be directly involved in a peace treaty negotiation, and that's
well understood by all parties."
The U.S. fought alongside South Korea in the war against North Korea, reinforced
by its Chinese communist ally.
Bosworth, however, said, "We're not going to negotiate on any of these issues
until we're back at the table in the six-party framework."
The "first challenges" in future six-party talks, he said, are "going to be to
agree on an overall sequencing of denuclearization; the move toward a new peace
regime, a peace treaty; the provision of energy and economic assistance;
normalization of relations; the establishment of some sort of a structure for
Northeast Asian security."
Bosworth was optimistic on the North's returning to the six-party talks, saying,
"They've indicated they would like to resume the six-party process. They have
agreed on the essential nature of the joint statement of 2005."
He was not sure about when. "But when and how that might come about is something
I just can't answer right now, and it will be the subject of ongoing
consultations," he said.
Bosworth said he did not discuss having another high-level meeting with North Korea.
"I would not rule it out, but I wouldn't rule it in, either," he said.
Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said last week
Washington is ready to have another high-level meeting with North Korea toward
reopening the six-party talks.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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