A top U.S. diplomat handling North Korea said Friday that Washington could hold a bilateral meeting with Pyongyang to discuss possible steps toward denuclearization, but the North’s regime has shown “no interest” in making efforts that could eventually lead to the resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks.
Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, also emphasized a “strong consensus” among five nations that include China and Russia, which are also members of the six-party talks along with the U.S., South Korea, Japan and North Korea.
Asked about the possibility of holding a bilateral dialogue with North Korea, Kim replied, “With regard to whether we would be willing to talk to North Korea bilaterally, we are. Because we believe that might be a good opportunity to achieve and discuss with them how they can address our expectations regarding the demonstration of their commitments to denuclearization, which will allow us to resume the negotiations.”
Kim arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and held talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei. Kim’s trip, which also took him to Seoul and Tokyo, is his first to the region since he took up the new post in October after stepping down as the U.S. ambassador to South Korea a month earlier.
North Korea reportedly demanded a diplomatic concession of some kind when U.S. spy chief James Clapper secretly visited the North in early November to bring home two detained American citizens, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller.
Despite the release of the Americans, Kim said the U.S. sees no indication that North Korea is serious about giving up its nuclear weapons.
“We are obviously pleased that the American citizens were released, glad that they are back home,” Kim said. “But, unfortunately, we have not seen any indications” that North Korea has changed its approach on the nuclear issue.
“We have indicated very clearly, both publicly and privately, that we would welcome an opportunity to talk to them directly on the important question of how we can resume serious negotiations toward denuclearization,” Kim said.
“So far, they have indicated no interest in doing so,” Kim said.
Kim said he also had been scheduled to visit Moscow during his trip to this region, but had to cancel the visit because of a “scheduling reason.”
“The impression I have from this set of consultations is that there is a very strong consensus among all of the five parties,” Kim said, adding that the U.S. and China “remain firmly committed to our shared goal of the complete abandonment of North Korea’s nuclear program.”
North Korea, which conducted its third and most powerful nuclear test early last year, has repeated calls for the immediate resumption of six-nation disarmament-for-aid talks.
North Korea has a track record of starting a crisis, coming to negotiations and reaching an agreement in exchange for economic and other concessions, then ditching the deal.
Mindful of the North’s behavior, South Korea and the U.S. have called for Pyongyang to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization through actions before the six-party talks can resume. Diplomatic efforts by China, North Korea’s long-time ally, have still been seen as more accommodating toward Pyongyang.
The multilateral talks grouping the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia have been at a standstill since late 2008. (Yonhap)
