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US-DPRK talks possible only within six-party framework: S. Korean FM
Source: Xinhua |
March 3, 2010, Wednesday
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SOUTH Korea's top diplomat said today bilateral talks between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) might take place if the talks stay within the framework of the six-party talks over ending the DPRK's nuclear programs.
"Countries concerned do not welcome North Korea (DPRK)'s attempts to discuss its nuclear issues only with the US But since the North nonetheless is hoping for bilateral discussions with the US for whatever political reasons, such talks, if held, would be taking place within the six-party frame," Seoul's foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in a briefing.
Yu said efforts to bring the DPRK back to the suspended disarmament talks are ongoing through various diplomatic channels among the six countries, namely the DPRK, South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, but refused to specify when exactly the talks, stalled since April last year when Pyongyang unilaterally quit them in protest, would resume.
"I'm certain it's in North Korea's interest to return to the six-party negotiations table. So the talks would not stay stalled indefinitely, as all six countries are aware of and admit the necessity of reopening the talks," Yu said.
But mood for resuming negotiations has been ripening, Yu added, citing the recent high-level exchanges between China and the DPRK and what he sees as a "softer" stance of the DPRK over returning to the disarmament talks.
"A series of recent developments show North Korea now talks with the six-party talks in mind," the minister said.
But Yu dismissed the DPRK's separate proposal to reach a peace treaty to replace a ceasefire that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War and left the two sides of the Korean Peninsula technically at war with each other, saying Pyongyang's denuclearization will have to come first.
"A peace treaty will be rendered meaningless if (the DPRK) continues to develop missile and nuclear arms," he told reporters.
"Countries concerned do not welcome North Korea (DPRK)'s attempts to discuss its nuclear issues only with the US But since the North nonetheless is hoping for bilateral discussions with the US for whatever political reasons, such talks, if held, would be taking place within the six-party frame," Seoul's foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in a briefing.
Yu said efforts to bring the DPRK back to the suspended disarmament talks are ongoing through various diplomatic channels among the six countries, namely the DPRK, South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, but refused to specify when exactly the talks, stalled since April last year when Pyongyang unilaterally quit them in protest, would resume.
"I'm certain it's in North Korea's interest to return to the six-party negotiations table. So the talks would not stay stalled indefinitely, as all six countries are aware of and admit the necessity of reopening the talks," Yu said.
But mood for resuming negotiations has been ripening, Yu added, citing the recent high-level exchanges between China and the DPRK and what he sees as a "softer" stance of the DPRK over returning to the disarmament talks.
"A series of recent developments show North Korea now talks with the six-party talks in mind," the minister said.
But Yu dismissed the DPRK's separate proposal to reach a peace treaty to replace a ceasefire that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War and left the two sides of the Korean Peninsula technically at war with each other, saying Pyongyang's denuclearization will have to come first.
"A peace treaty will be rendered meaningless if (the DPRK) continues to develop missile and nuclear arms," he told reporters.
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