US assures N. Korea of channel for direct talks
Source: Agencies |
December 10, 2009, Thursday
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THE United States assured North Korea of "a robust channel" for direct talks if it rejoins six-nation nuclear negotiations, as a senior US envoy was in Pyongyang yesterday to try to salvage the stalled international talks.
Envoy Stephen Bosworth is on a mission to win North Korea's commitment to return to the negotiations on dismantling its nuclear program.
Bosworth's three-day visit to Pyongyang is the first by a US official since its President Barack Obama took office.
State Department officials said Bosworth, who arrived on Tuesday, would hold high-level talks before departing for Seoul today. They did not say whom Bosworth and his delegation would meet.
There is speculation that North Korea would demand that the US sign a peace treaty with it in return for rejoining the six-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the US.
US officials say a peace treaty is not on the agenda for Bosworth's trip to the North. However, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday that it "would not surprise us" if North Korea raised other issues.
"We will make clear to them that should they return to the six-party process and should they reaffirm their commitments" under a 2005 disarmament pact, "then there is available to them a robust channel for bilateral dialogue," he said.
"A wide range of issues" can be disussed with that channel, Crowley said.
This week's talks come after a year of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Bosworth is accompanied by the lead US nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, as well as atomic and Asia specialists from the Defense Department and the White House. The delegation is to return to Seoul today.
Envoy Stephen Bosworth is on a mission to win North Korea's commitment to return to the negotiations on dismantling its nuclear program.
Bosworth's three-day visit to Pyongyang is the first by a US official since its President Barack Obama took office.
State Department officials said Bosworth, who arrived on Tuesday, would hold high-level talks before departing for Seoul today. They did not say whom Bosworth and his delegation would meet.
There is speculation that North Korea would demand that the US sign a peace treaty with it in return for rejoining the six-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the US.
US officials say a peace treaty is not on the agenda for Bosworth's trip to the North. However, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday that it "would not surprise us" if North Korea raised other issues.
"We will make clear to them that should they return to the six-party process and should they reaffirm their commitments" under a 2005 disarmament pact, "then there is available to them a robust channel for bilateral dialogue," he said.
"A wide range of issues" can be disussed with that channel, Crowley said.
This week's talks come after a year of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Bosworth is accompanied by the lead US nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, as well as atomic and Asia specialists from the Defense Department and the White House. The delegation is to return to Seoul today.
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