ID :
18935
Thu, 09/11/2008 - 15:49
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/18935
The shortlink copeid
U.S. welcomes N. Korea's commitment to six-party talks: White House
by Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- The United States Wednesday welcomed remarks by North Korea's ceremonial head of state to continue multilateral nuclear talks amid reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's failing health.
"We are looking at the comments today from the second in command as a
positive one," White House spokesperson Dana Perino told a daily press
briefing. She said the United States will "continue to work to bring them
into compliance with what they agreed to do."
Perino was responding to remarks by Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of
the People's Supreme Assembly, that North Korea will "continue to try to
find a way" to break a deadlock over Washington's failure to "take us
off the list of state sponsors of terrorism."
The No. 2 man in the North Korean hierarchy complained in an interview with
Japan's Kyodo News Service that "the United States is lagging way
behind" and attributed it to the "domestic situation in the United
States," apparently referring to the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4.
Sung Kim, nominee for special envoy to the six-party talks, meanwhile, told a
Senate confirmation hearing that the U.S. has not yet seen the North make any
serious move to restore its reactor. "They've removed some disabled
equipment that had been placed in storage and they took them out and brought them
into operation areas," he said.
"At the moment, we have not detected any serious step to restore the
operation of Yongbyon facilities," he said. "In fact, we've been
talking to all of our six-party partners about the current situation and I think
all of our partners share our deep concern that any move to reverse
disablement at Yongbyon would be a serious mistake."
The six-party talks came to a standstill in recent months as North Korea stopped
disabling its main nuclear reactor, citing Washington's failure to remove the
North from the terrorism blacklist.
The U.S. wants the North to agree to a verification regime on its nuclear
programs, including an alleged uranium-based program and suspected nuclear
proliferation, before Pyongyang is taken off the blacklist.
Perino said the U.S. will continue the six-party talks on ending North Korea's
nuclear weapons ambitions.
"The negotiations have had their ups and downs, as Secretary (Condoleezza)
Rice has said, and we're going to continue to work on it," she said.
"North Korea knows exactly what they need to do, which is to establish a
verification protocol so that we could then take the next step that we promised
to do, which is to take them off the terrorism list."
Perino would not elaborate on Kim Jong-il's health, saying, "If and until
North Korea is ready to talk about their -- the health of their leader, I'll just
decline to comment for now."
Kim Yong-nam dismissed reports of Kim Jong-il's failing health, saying the North
Korean leader had "no problems" with his health.
Officials of South Korea's National Intelligence Service told a closed-door
parliamentary committee session earlier in the day that Kim Jong-il
"suffered either a stroke or a cerebral hemorrhage, but is recovering,"
adding, "Although Kim is not fit enough for outside activity, he is
conscious and able to control affairs."
Talk of Kim's condition spread as the 66-year-old failed to appear at the annual
ceremony Tuesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the North
Korean government, which he has never missed.
Kim Jong-il has suffered from diabetes and cardiac problems for many years, and
several German doctors reportedly visited Pyongyang in May last year to conduct
coronary bypass surgery on him.
Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, died of a heart
attack in 1994 just a few weeks before what would have been the first
inter-Korean summit with then-South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack echoed Perino's remarks on the fate of
the North Korean leader.
"I've seen the North Koreans deny that there are any health problems with
Kim Jong-il," he said. "I'm in the same position, essentially, that I
was yesterday in that I can't talk about intelligence information."
The spokesman called on the North to agree to a verification protocol for the
disabling of its nuclear facilities in the second phase of the six-party talks.
The goal is the eventual dismantlement of the North's nuclear programs and
facilities in the third and last phase of an aid-for-denuclearization deal.
The deal signed by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia calls for
the North's abandonment of its nuclear ambitions in return for massive economic
aid and normalization of relations with the United States and Japan.
McCormack was asked if the health problems of Kim Jong-il might adversely affect
the decision-making process in the nuclear talks.
"Regardless of who is taking the decisions or how they are arrived at in the
North Korean system, they need to act in order to move the process forward,"
he said. "They need to act in order to try to realize a different kind of
relationship with the rest of the world, potentially with the United States as
well."
North Korea's decision to stop disabling its nuclear reactor came at roughly the
same time as rumors circulated about Kim Jong-il's failing health.
Kim has not been seen in public since Aug. 14, giving rise to speculation that
the North's military, displeased with the nuclear talks, took advantage of his
illness to push for the stoppage of the nuclear disablement despite the desire by
technocrats to get economic benefits from outside.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- The United States Wednesday welcomed remarks by North Korea's ceremonial head of state to continue multilateral nuclear talks amid reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's failing health.
"We are looking at the comments today from the second in command as a
positive one," White House spokesperson Dana Perino told a daily press
briefing. She said the United States will "continue to work to bring them
into compliance with what they agreed to do."
Perino was responding to remarks by Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of
the People's Supreme Assembly, that North Korea will "continue to try to
find a way" to break a deadlock over Washington's failure to "take us
off the list of state sponsors of terrorism."
The No. 2 man in the North Korean hierarchy complained in an interview with
Japan's Kyodo News Service that "the United States is lagging way
behind" and attributed it to the "domestic situation in the United
States," apparently referring to the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4.
Sung Kim, nominee for special envoy to the six-party talks, meanwhile, told a
Senate confirmation hearing that the U.S. has not yet seen the North make any
serious move to restore its reactor. "They've removed some disabled
equipment that had been placed in storage and they took them out and brought them
into operation areas," he said.
"At the moment, we have not detected any serious step to restore the
operation of Yongbyon facilities," he said. "In fact, we've been
talking to all of our six-party partners about the current situation and I think
all of our partners share our deep concern that any move to reverse
disablement at Yongbyon would be a serious mistake."
The six-party talks came to a standstill in recent months as North Korea stopped
disabling its main nuclear reactor, citing Washington's failure to remove the
North from the terrorism blacklist.
The U.S. wants the North to agree to a verification regime on its nuclear
programs, including an alleged uranium-based program and suspected nuclear
proliferation, before Pyongyang is taken off the blacklist.
Perino said the U.S. will continue the six-party talks on ending North Korea's
nuclear weapons ambitions.
"The negotiations have had their ups and downs, as Secretary (Condoleezza)
Rice has said, and we're going to continue to work on it," she said.
"North Korea knows exactly what they need to do, which is to establish a
verification protocol so that we could then take the next step that we promised
to do, which is to take them off the terrorism list."
Perino would not elaborate on Kim Jong-il's health, saying, "If and until
North Korea is ready to talk about their -- the health of their leader, I'll just
decline to comment for now."
Kim Yong-nam dismissed reports of Kim Jong-il's failing health, saying the North
Korean leader had "no problems" with his health.
Officials of South Korea's National Intelligence Service told a closed-door
parliamentary committee session earlier in the day that Kim Jong-il
"suffered either a stroke or a cerebral hemorrhage, but is recovering,"
adding, "Although Kim is not fit enough for outside activity, he is
conscious and able to control affairs."
Talk of Kim's condition spread as the 66-year-old failed to appear at the annual
ceremony Tuesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the North
Korean government, which he has never missed.
Kim Jong-il has suffered from diabetes and cardiac problems for many years, and
several German doctors reportedly visited Pyongyang in May last year to conduct
coronary bypass surgery on him.
Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, died of a heart
attack in 1994 just a few weeks before what would have been the first
inter-Korean summit with then-South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack echoed Perino's remarks on the fate of
the North Korean leader.
"I've seen the North Koreans deny that there are any health problems with
Kim Jong-il," he said. "I'm in the same position, essentially, that I
was yesterday in that I can't talk about intelligence information."
The spokesman called on the North to agree to a verification protocol for the
disabling of its nuclear facilities in the second phase of the six-party talks.
The goal is the eventual dismantlement of the North's nuclear programs and
facilities in the third and last phase of an aid-for-denuclearization deal.
The deal signed by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia calls for
the North's abandonment of its nuclear ambitions in return for massive economic
aid and normalization of relations with the United States and Japan.
McCormack was asked if the health problems of Kim Jong-il might adversely affect
the decision-making process in the nuclear talks.
"Regardless of who is taking the decisions or how they are arrived at in the
North Korean system, they need to act in order to move the process forward,"
he said. "They need to act in order to try to realize a different kind of
relationship with the rest of the world, potentially with the United States as
well."
North Korea's decision to stop disabling its nuclear reactor came at roughly the
same time as rumors circulated about Kim Jong-il's failing health.
Kim has not been seen in public since Aug. 14, giving rise to speculation that
the North's military, displeased with the nuclear talks, took advantage of his
illness to push for the stoppage of the nuclear disablement despite the desire by
technocrats to get economic benefits from outside.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
