Bosworth in Seoul to seek ways to resume NK nuke talks

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States dealing with North Korea met Tuesday in Seoul as they sought to coordinate their efforts to discipline the communist country and bring it back to six-party nuclear talks. "We're very pleased to be here and look forward to another day and a half of effective coordination," Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy on North Korea policies, told Wi Sung-lac, South Korea's chief delegate to the talks that also group China, Russia and Japan. The talks, designed to compensate the North for nuclear dismantlement, have not been held since late 2008. In 2009, North Korea conducted its second nuclear test and drew a wider range of U.N. sanctions. In November last year, the country unveiled a modern uranium enrichment facility that could be used as a second track to developing nuclear bombs. Seoul and Washington say the activity must be stopped before the six-party talks can reopen. The meeting between Wi and Bosworth, who is making his first South Korean visit since January, follows a proposal last month by China that the nuclear envoys of the two Koreas first hold dialogue to pave the way for the resumption of the six-party talks. North Korea, which closely coordinates its policies with China, has yet to produce a formal proposal for inter-Korean dialogue on its nuclear arms programs. Pyongyang has long argued its nuclear development is a deterrent against U.S. aggression. During his three-day trip that ends Wednesday, Bosworth will meet with other senior officials here, including Chun Yung-woo, presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, and Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, according to the foreign ministry.