Envoy calls on N. Korea to return to 6-way talks

(ATTN: ADDS remarks by White House, State Dept. spokespersons at bottom)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. point man on North Korea Friday called
on North Korea to return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear ambitions,
reiterating that bilateral talks should be held as part of the multilateral
dialogue.
Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, also said that
he will consult with other members of the six-party talks, including South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, on how best to respond to North Korea's demand for a
bilateral dialogue, and hinted at a possible visit to Pyongyang.
"I have no plans at the moment to go to North Korea," Bosworth told reporters in
Beijing, according to a transcript released by the State Department. "Well, one
of the things that we're doing on this trip is to coordinate with our partners on
the way in which we should respond to the invitations that the North Koreans have
extended."
Bosworth made his remarks just before taking a flight to Seoul, the second leg of
his three-nation Asia tour, which will also bring him to Tokyo.
North Korea reportedly extended an invitation to Bosworth in early August, when
former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang to win the release of two
American journalists.
"Based on our consultations, we will return to Washington and our consultations
will help to inform the decision making that we go through on how best to
re-engage with the North Koreans," Bosworth said. "I would stress that any
bilateral with the North Koreans must be as a part of the six-party process and
would be designed to advance that process."
Analysts say that Bosworth may visit Pyongyang on his next Asia trip, describing
it as part of the consultations with other six-party members, just like
Christopher Hill, then the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, did frequently to woo
reluctant North Korea back to the multilateral nuclear talks in years past.
North Korea said earlier in the day that it opposes the six-party talks because
they were used to violate its sovereign right to develop nuclear energy and
rocket technology.
Pyongyang also warned of "further self-defensive countermeasures" if the
international community continues its sanctions under U.N. resolutions adopted
after the North's recent nuclear and missile tests.
Amplifying on a letter the North sent to the U.N. Security Council, the official
Korean Central News Agency said that it has entered the final stage of uranium
enrichment, another source for making nuclear weapons, and is building more
nuclear weapons with spent fuel rods extracted from its plutonium-producing
reactor.
Bosworth expressed concerns.
"Anything that the North is doing in the area of nuclear development is of
concern to us," he said. "These are issues that we are dealing with as they
arrive. I think it, for all of us, reconfirms the necessity to maintain a
coordinated position on the need for the complete, verifiable denuclearization of
the Korean Peninsula."
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs echoed Bosworth's theme.
"We continue to be committed to ensuring that North Korea upholds its
international obligations and we continue to strongly implement the sanctions
that were approved," Gibbs said. "Our goal continues to be, and will continue to
be the denuclearization."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "In general, we are very concerned by
these claims that they're moving closer to the weaponization of nuclear
materials," but added he is still suspicious of "how true they are."
North Korea had vehemently denied any uranium-based nuclear program until June,
when it declared it had begun enriching uranium in response to the international
sanctions.
The uranium-program was the very factor that disrupted the 1994 Agreed Framework
between Pyongyang and Washington for the freezing of North Korea's nuclear
reactor in return for a massive economic aid, construction of two light reactors
-- less susceptible to producing weapons-grade plutonium, and diplomatic
recognition by Washington.
The former Bush administration withdrew from the light-water reactor project in
late 2002, citing the uranium program, and created a new negotiating forum, the
six-party talks, the next year.
The six-party talks produced a deal in September 2005 for the North's
denuclearization in exchange for hefty energy and economic aid, normalization of
ties, and establishment of a permanent peace regime to replace the armistice that
ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
The deal then faltered after the U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its missile
and nuclear tests in recent months.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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