ID :
197827
Thu, 07/28/2011 - 10:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/197827
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea urges N. Korea to show sincerity in talks with U.S.
SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea needs to show its sincerity in giving up its nuclear weapons programs in a rare meeting with the United States this week, South Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday, amid cautious hopes for the resumption of the stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear drive.
North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and Stephen Bosworth, Washington's top envoy on the North, were scheduled to hold bilateral talks in New York on Thursday (local time). A second day of meetings is likely to be held on Friday.
The New York meeting, the first of its kind in almost three years, comes a week after the nuclear envoys of South Korea and North Korea met on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Bali and agreed to make joint efforts to swiftly resume the six-party talks.
"We hope to verify North Korea's sincerity on denuclearization throughout the (North Korea-U.S.) talks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters.
"Also, we expect such talks to offer a useful opportunity to check to what extent North Korea is prepared to move toward denuclearization."
The Bali meeting between Wi Sung-lac of South Korea and his newly appointed North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, provided a ray of hope for the future of the deadlocked six-party talks that also involve the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
Efforts to reopen the six-party talks, dormant since December 2008, have been complicated by the North's deadly military attacks on the South last year and its self-confessed uranium enrichment program.
Arriving in New York Tuesday, the North Korean diplomat Kim said he was upbeat about the Pyongyang-Washington ties and the future of the six-party nuclear negotiations.
U.S. officials, however, remained cautious.
"This will be an exploratory meeting to determine if North Korea is prepared to fulfill its commitments under the 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington a day ahead of the New York meeting.
The six-party talks produced some agreements in 2005 and 2007, but little follow-up actions have been taken. Despite the deals, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and Stephen Bosworth, Washington's top envoy on the North, were scheduled to hold bilateral talks in New York on Thursday (local time). A second day of meetings is likely to be held on Friday.
The New York meeting, the first of its kind in almost three years, comes a week after the nuclear envoys of South Korea and North Korea met on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Bali and agreed to make joint efforts to swiftly resume the six-party talks.
"We hope to verify North Korea's sincerity on denuclearization throughout the (North Korea-U.S.) talks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters.
"Also, we expect such talks to offer a useful opportunity to check to what extent North Korea is prepared to move toward denuclearization."
The Bali meeting between Wi Sung-lac of South Korea and his newly appointed North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, provided a ray of hope for the future of the deadlocked six-party talks that also involve the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
Efforts to reopen the six-party talks, dormant since December 2008, have been complicated by the North's deadly military attacks on the South last year and its self-confessed uranium enrichment program.
Arriving in New York Tuesday, the North Korean diplomat Kim said he was upbeat about the Pyongyang-Washington ties and the future of the six-party nuclear negotiations.
U.S. officials, however, remained cautious.
"This will be an exploratory meeting to determine if North Korea is prepared to fulfill its commitments under the 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington a day ahead of the New York meeting.
The six-party talks produced some agreements in 2005 and 2007, but little follow-up actions have been taken. Despite the deals, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
