Seoul could host five-way negotiations on N. Korean nuke: official

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea may seek to host five-nation negotiations on the North Korean nuclear issue, a senior official here said Wednesday, an interim alternative Seoul proposed in lieu of six-way talks currently boycotted by Pyongyang.

Just a day earlier, China, host of the six-party talks, had hinted at opposition
to trying the new format.
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that his country
believes the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula must be realized through
the six-party talks, which also involve the United States, Japan and Russia.
The official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, however, said
Beijing agrees with the need for consultations to discuss ways to bring the
communist North back to the negotiating table.
"I understand the remarks (from the Chinese spokesman) came as response to a
question asking if the five-way consultations should replace the six-party
talks," the official told reporters, asking not to be identified.
"First of all, I want to make clear that the five-way consultations will not be a
new dialogue framework that will replace the six-party talks, and that they will
only be a new approach to bringing North Korea back to the six-way negotiations,"
he said.
"The five-way consultations are not aimed at putting pressure on North Korea.
They are aimed at persuading North Korea to return to the negotiating table," the
official said.
Defying U.N. condemnation of its long-range rocket launch in April that it claims
orbited a satellite, Pyongyang declared it will no longer take part in the
nuclear disarmament talks.
Pyongyang has since stiffened its military threats, conducting its second nuclear
explosion test on May 25.
The South Korean official said the envisioned consultations could be held in any
of the five countries that will take part because they will not be part of the
six-party talks that have been hosted by China since they began in 2003.