N. Korea hints at seeking dialogue with U.S., not 6-way talks+

PYONGYANG/BEIJING, July 27 Kyodo -
North Korea indicated Monday it would seek bilateral dialogue with the United
States, while repeating its refusal to return to the table of the six-party
talks on its denuclearization.
''There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the
current situation,'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the
official Korean Central News Agency, which declared that the six-party talks
had reached a ''definite end.''
The spokesman's remarks appeared to suggest North Korea is seeking to hold
dialogue directly with the United States.
Last Friday, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son Ho similarly
said that while the six-party talks ''are gone forever,'' Pyongyang is ''not
against any negotiation for the issues of common concern.''
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, said Sunday in an interview
with NBC News program Meet the Press that Washington seeks a resumption of the
six-party talks that involved North and South Korea, the United States, China,
Japan and Russia.
''We believe that the six-party talk framework, which had everybody included,
is the appropriate way to engage with North Korea,'' she said. ''We still want
North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of an
international effort that will lead to denuclearization.''
According to KCNA, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said the current stalemate
could have been avoided if the United States and other parties to the six-party
talks ''had not resorted to the reckless and shameless moves to deprive (North
Korea) of its legitimate right to launch satellites by abusing the name of the
United Nations Security Council.''
North Korea quit the six-party talks last April in protest at a U.N. Security
Council statement denouncing its rocket launch that was widely seen as a
disguised missile test.
In mid-July, a U.N. sanctions committee slapped a new set of sanctions on North
Korea based on Resolution 1874, which the Security Council adopted June 12 in
response to Pyongyang's second nuclear test on May 25.
''The parties who now insist on the resumption of the six-party talks are in
dead silence about their behavior that scuttled the talks and sparked off
confrontation,'' the spokesman said.
''If these countries blindly respond to the call for the resumption of the
six-party talks, contending that there is no other alternative, it doesn't help
resolve the problem; it does more harm than good.''
==Kyodo
2009-07-27 23:41:18