China: North Korea nuclear talks could resume
BEIJING — China’s top envoy on North Korean issues said Wednesday that Pyongyang’s readiness to hold discussions with the U.S. is a positive development that could pave the way for a resumption of stalled international talks on the North’s nuclear program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Monday that his government is willing to rejoin the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks depending on progress in its negotiations with the U.S., according to Chinese and North Korean official media.
North Korea withdrew from the six-party talks after conducting a rocket test in April and a nuclear test in May. It said at the time it would never return to the talks involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said Wednesday that a dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington would help “create the conditions needed to reopen” the deadlocked negotiations. Wu said such bilateral talks could be considered part of the six-nation process.
“There are various types of dialogues within the framework of the six-party talks. China has always supported bilateral dialogues between all the relevant parties. … A dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. is an important step under the framework of the six-party talks,” Wu said in remarks posted on the ministry’s official Web site.
“I hope the dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. can achieve concrete progress,” he added.
Kim’s offer, made during talks with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, reflects Pyongyang’s desire for direct engagement with Washington. The Obama administration has said that might be possible but any talks should be part of the six-nation negotiations aimed at ending the North’s nuclear programs.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington is aware of reports that North Korea would reconsider opening talks but that the United States has not received details of the meeting from the Chinese.
France’s newly appointed special envoy on North Korea said Wednesday there should be “real and concrete discussions” if the talks resume. Jack Lang was appointed by President Nicolas Sarkozy last week and is on a tour of the six nations involved in the negotiations to evaluate ways France can help end the nuclear standoff.
“We hope that it will be not only the opening of discussions, but it will be the way to change completely the situation,” Lang told reporters after meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
Lang arrived in Seoul on Tuesday from Japan and plans to visit North Korea around Nov. 10.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted Lang as saying that France or the European Union could participate in compensating North Korea in exchange for its denuclearization. France and the EU are not members of the six-nation disarmament talks.
North Korea has been moderating its tone in recent weeks, backing away from its provocative behavior and rhetoric of the spring.
Still, North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Sin Son Ho, said last week that “it is unthinkable to abandon our nuclear weapons even in a dream” as long as the fundamental conditions that pushed the North to go nuclear continue to exist, the Korea Economic Daily reported.
Sin also said it is unimaginable for the North to rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty it withdrew from in 2003. He conveyed his country’s position in a letter to the U.N. Security Council last Thursday, the newspaper said.
North Korea has long said it cannot give up its nuclear arsenal as long as the U.S. continues with what it says is a “hostile policy” and preparations for a nuclear attack. Washington denies it has any such intentions.
North Korea agreed in 2007 to disable its nuclear facilities in return for international aid. In June last year, it blew up the cooling tower at its main nuclear complex in a show of its commitment. But its denuclearization soon came to a halt as it wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past nuclear activities.
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