U.S. urges N. Korea to return to six-party talks

(ATTN: ADDS White House spokesman's remarks at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States Wednesday called on North Korea
to return to six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions amid rising tensions
on the Korean Peninsula due to the North's recent nuclear test and other
provocations.

"We continue to call on North Korea to come back to a negotiating process, come
back to their commitments that they made in 2005," Philip Crowley, assistant
secretary of state for public affairs, said. "As the president said in his
meeting with the president of South Korea yesterday, we remain committed, as U.S.
policy, together with our other partners in the six-party process to a fully
denuclearized Korean Peninsula."
The six-party deal, signed in September 2005, calls for North Korea's nuclear
dismantlement in exchange for energy and other economic aid and political
benefits.
Pyongyang has vowed to boycott the six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the
U.S., China, Russia and Japan, citing the U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its
recent nuclear and rocket tests, which were apparently designed to help ease a
power transfer from ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to his third and
youngest son, Jong-un.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday, "I want to be clear that there is
another path available to North Korea, a path that leads to peace and economic
opportunity for the people of North Korea, including full integration into the
community of nations.
"That destination can only be reached through peaceful negotiations that achieve
the full and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Obama said.
"That is the opportunity that exists for North Korea, and President Lee
(Myung-bak) and I join with the international community in urging the North
Koreans to take it."
Speaking to reporters after a summit at the White House, Obama joined forces with
South Korean President Lee in warning that North Korea will not be rewarded for
its provocations.
Crowley described North Korea's recent provocations as "a threat to the region"
and "grave concerns," saying, "We want to see North Korea come back and play a
more constructive role. We think there's a path available to North Korea, but
whether they choose to follow the right path, we'll have to wait and see."
North Korea has threatened to start enriching uranium to produce more nuclear
bombs, warning of a nuclear war unless the U.S. and the international community
withdraw sanctions and actions taken against the North in response to its nuclear
test on May 25.
Reports said Pyongyang is working on another intercontinental ballistic missile,
capable of reaching the U.S.
"I can't tell you what North Korea's going to do," Crowley said of the reports.
"I don't think anyone in the United States government has a great crystal ball in
why North Korea does what it does.
"But I think we've made clear what North Korea should do," he said. "In recent
days, obviously, we've had a significant resolution passed. We are now
aggressively implementing the arrangements under the U.N. Security Council
resolution."
The resolution bans the North from conducting any further nuclear and ballistic
missile tests and imposes financial sanctions, an overall arms embargo and allows
member states to interdict sea, air and land cargo suspected of carrying weapons
prohibited under the resolution.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a daily news briefing that North Korea
will "continue to take provocative actions."
"We've seen over the past several months the North Koreans say they are going to
take provocative actions, and they have taken provocative actions," he said.
"They have done exactly what they said they would do. What those actions are, I
don't know particularly, but their steps and their actions continue to isolate
themselves from the world. They further walk away from the obligations and
responsibilities that they themselves signed up for."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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