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71730
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 14:37
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https://oananews.org//node/71730
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S. Korea, U.S. agree to seek 'comprehensive solution' to N. Korean nuke
PHUKET, Thailand, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and his American counterpart Hillary Clinton agreed Wednesday to continue diplomatic efforts to bring North Korea back to the six-way talks on its nuclear program, Yu's aides said.
In their 25-minute talks held on the eve of the opening of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF), Yu and Clinton also agreed on the importance of fully implementing
the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for its
second nuclear test, they added.
The Obama administration has pursued a "two-track" strategy on North Korea by
vigorously enforcing the resolution and seeking ways to resume dialogue with the
communist nation.
"The two sides talked about a comprehensive solution for the irreversible
dismantlement of the North Korean nuclear program and agreed to continue
consultations with other related countries," South Korea's foreign ministry
spokesman Moon Tae-young told reporters.
Seoul and Washington have agreed on the need for a new type of approach to North
Korea's nuclear issue, saying a set of short-term accomplishments by their
previous administrations in negotiations with the defiant North proved to be
"reversible."
The North has repeatedly taken provocative steps after receiving economic and
political rewards for individual steps toward denuclearization, including the
disabling of its main plutonium-producing reactor in Yongbyon. The North
announced after a long-range rocket launch in April that it will restart the
reactor and abandon the six-way disarmament talks with South Korea, the U.S.,
China, Russia, and Japan.
South Korea and the U.S. say they will break the pattern by making the North take
"irreversible steps."
As North Korea's belligerent behavior waned in recent weeks, the Obama
administration has begun to offer carrots to the North. Kurt Campbell, newly
appointed assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, said
Washington is ready to offer a "comprehensive package" of incentives to the
North.
"If North Korea is prepared to take serious and irreversible steps, the U.S.,
South Korea, Japan, China and others will be able to put together a comprehensive
package that would be attractive to North Korea. But in this respect, North Korea
really has to take some of the first steps," he told reporters during his trip to
Seoul over the weekend.
South Korean officials said the package is only in its early stages and that
Seoul and Washington will consult with other members of the six-way talks on the
plan.
"The comprehensive package is still a concept, of which details should be worked
out through consultations among related nations," a senior South Korean foreign
ministry official said. "You will be able to deduce much of what will be included
in the package if you look at North Korea's demands in the past negotiations.
Some new incentives will be included as well."
Ri Tong-il, director of the North Korean foreign ministry's disarmament
department, gave no answer when reporters briefly encountered him and questioned
his position on the notion of comprehensive package. He is on a visit here as a
member of the North's delegation to the ARF.
Meanwhile, South Korean and U.S. top diplomats expressed hopes for the safe and
early return of their nationals detained in North Korea during the talks,
according to the spokesman.
Yu raised the issue of the South Korean worker taken into custody at the joint
industrial park in Kaesong. He has been detained in North Korea incommunicado
since being arrested in late March on charges of criticizing the North's
political system and trying to lure a North Korean female worker to defect to the
South.
Washington is also trying to win the release of two American journalists detained
in the secretive North.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee of the U.S. Internet news outlet Current TV were arrested
in mid-March near the China-North Korea border while reporting on North Korean
defectors. They were convicted of unspecified "great crimes" and sentenced to 12
years of hard labor.
Yu and Clinton agreed that the humanitarian issue should be handled separately
from the nuclear issue, Moon said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(MORE)
In their 25-minute talks held on the eve of the opening of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF), Yu and Clinton also agreed on the importance of fully implementing
the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for its
second nuclear test, they added.
The Obama administration has pursued a "two-track" strategy on North Korea by
vigorously enforcing the resolution and seeking ways to resume dialogue with the
communist nation.
"The two sides talked about a comprehensive solution for the irreversible
dismantlement of the North Korean nuclear program and agreed to continue
consultations with other related countries," South Korea's foreign ministry
spokesman Moon Tae-young told reporters.
Seoul and Washington have agreed on the need for a new type of approach to North
Korea's nuclear issue, saying a set of short-term accomplishments by their
previous administrations in negotiations with the defiant North proved to be
"reversible."
The North has repeatedly taken provocative steps after receiving economic and
political rewards for individual steps toward denuclearization, including the
disabling of its main plutonium-producing reactor in Yongbyon. The North
announced after a long-range rocket launch in April that it will restart the
reactor and abandon the six-way disarmament talks with South Korea, the U.S.,
China, Russia, and Japan.
South Korea and the U.S. say they will break the pattern by making the North take
"irreversible steps."
As North Korea's belligerent behavior waned in recent weeks, the Obama
administration has begun to offer carrots to the North. Kurt Campbell, newly
appointed assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, said
Washington is ready to offer a "comprehensive package" of incentives to the
North.
"If North Korea is prepared to take serious and irreversible steps, the U.S.,
South Korea, Japan, China and others will be able to put together a comprehensive
package that would be attractive to North Korea. But in this respect, North Korea
really has to take some of the first steps," he told reporters during his trip to
Seoul over the weekend.
South Korean officials said the package is only in its early stages and that
Seoul and Washington will consult with other members of the six-way talks on the
plan.
"The comprehensive package is still a concept, of which details should be worked
out through consultations among related nations," a senior South Korean foreign
ministry official said. "You will be able to deduce much of what will be included
in the package if you look at North Korea's demands in the past negotiations.
Some new incentives will be included as well."
Ri Tong-il, director of the North Korean foreign ministry's disarmament
department, gave no answer when reporters briefly encountered him and questioned
his position on the notion of comprehensive package. He is on a visit here as a
member of the North's delegation to the ARF.
Meanwhile, South Korean and U.S. top diplomats expressed hopes for the safe and
early return of their nationals detained in North Korea during the talks,
according to the spokesman.
Yu raised the issue of the South Korean worker taken into custody at the joint
industrial park in Kaesong. He has been detained in North Korea incommunicado
since being arrested in late March on charges of criticizing the North's
political system and trying to lure a North Korean female worker to defect to the
South.
Washington is also trying to win the release of two American journalists detained
in the secretive North.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee of the U.S. Internet news outlet Current TV were arrested
in mid-March near the China-North Korea border while reporting on North Korean
defectors. They were convicted of unspecified "great crimes" and sentenced to 12
years of hard labor.
Yu and Clinton agreed that the humanitarian issue should be handled separately
from the nuclear issue, Moon said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(MORE)
