N. Korean delegation departs for U.N. amid signs of dialogue

(ATTN: UPDATES with Kim's meeting with Chinese envoy, background; MODIFIES lead)
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean delegation was en route to the United
States to attend an upcoming U.N. session, state media said Saturday, as momentum
was building to revive denuclearization talks with leader Kim Jong-il's
overtures.
In talks with a visiting Chinese envoy on Friday, Kim said his country is willing
to resolve the nuclear dispute through "bilateral or multilateral talks." His
remarks, reported by China's Xinhua News Agency, hinted that North Korea may
possibly rejoin six-party denuclearization talks it quit earlier this year.
Washington welcomed Kim's reported remarks. Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of
state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, said he understands Kim's remarks were
in line with the U.S. position that any bilateral contact between the two
countries should be held within the six-party framework. The multilateral forum
aimed at ending the North's nuclear drive also involves South Korea, China, Japan
and Russia.
"It sounds as if North Korea is underscoring that it will accept those
conditions," Campbell told reporters in Tokyo, where he visited to meet with
officials of the new Yukio Hatoyama government launched earlier this week.
"If we have any initial bilateral interaction with North Korea, it will be as a
means to get back to the six-party talks," he said.
The North Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon left
Pyongyang on Friday to attend the 64th U.N. General Assembly, said the North's
Korean Central News Agency.
Washington has said it will decide after the U.N. session whether and when to
hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang. The U.S. special envoy for North Korea
policy, Stephen Bosworth, has a North Korean invitation to visit Pyongyang.
"We have made no decision to do that. We'll continue our consultations with our
regional partners and then make some judgments in the very near future." Philip
Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said in a briefing on
Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss
the matter with their partners on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly
(UNGA), he said.
"During the course of UNGA, for example, between the president and the secretary,
we'll have a chance to talk individually to all of these countries that share our
interest in a denuclearized North Korea," Crowley said. "And then once we get
through UNGA, I think we'll make some decisions."
The Pyongyang trip by the Chinese envoy and state councilor, Dai Binguo,
highlighted China's mediating role in the long-running nuclear standoff.
In a letter to Kim handed by his special envoy, Chinese President Hu Jintao said,
"China is ready to spare no effort to work with the DPRK (North Korea) to realize
such a goal," according to Xinhua.
Dai was accompanied by Wu Dawei, China's chief envoy to the nuclear talks. North
Korean media said he held "candid and in-depth" talks with Kang Sok-ju, the
North's first vice foreign minister and major commander of the country's nuclear
diplomacy.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is reportedly expected to visit Pyongyang early next
month to mediate envisioned one-on-one talks between North Korea and the U.S.
North Korea previously pledged to terminate its nuclear drive in exchange for
diplomatic and economic benefits from other members of the talks but quit the
forum in April to protest U.N. sanctions imposed over its long-range rocket test.
The country conducted its second nuclear test in May, drawing stronger U.N.
sanctions.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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