Washington's chief nuclear envoy called Friday for North Korea to do its "homework" in order to find ways of resuming six-way talks aimed at peacefully dismantling the communist state's nuclear program and defusing a prolonged standoff with the U.S.
"I think, you should know, the United States takes very seriously the six-way talks process and we are doing all we can to make sure that it is a successful process and that we are able to solve this through diplomatic means," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after a breakfast meeting with Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's chief nuclear delegate, at a Seoul hotel.
Hill said that his country is "doing a lot of homework and really exploring every avenue. It would be nice to see that the DPRK is doing the same." DPRK is the shortened version of North Korea's official title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"What concerns me is I don't see enough sign that they are doing their homework," he added.
Hill stressed the importance for related countries to "stay very close together through this difficult period."
The six-party talks, suspended now for half a year, have shown no sign they will resume soon as North Korea and the U.S. refuse to compromise over sticking points.
Pyongyang says it will never rejoin the talks unless Washington lifts its financial sanctions against the cash-strapped regime.
While in Beijing earlier this week, however, the chief U.S.
nuclear interlocutor ruled out new concessions to North Korea unless it keeps to a promise set out in the Sept. 11 agreement.
Under the deal reached at the end of fourth round of six-party talks last year, North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear program in return for security guarantees and economic aid.
Hill was guarded about media reports on the Bush administration's new approach towards the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Quoting informed diplomatic sources in Washington, the New York Times reported last week that the U.S. is moving to begin works to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula, even while the six-way talks process is underway.
"I haven't seen the proposal. I heard about it. I am going back to Washington today, and I will have an opportunity to look at it," Hill said.
He also refused to be drawn on the topic of North Korean defectors. The issue has attracted keen media attention following reports of several North Koreans who took refugee in an American rather than a South Korean diplomatic mission in China, un unusual occurrence for defectors stranded in the country. Seoul, May 26 (Yonhap News)
U.S. envoy urges N. Korea to study ways of returning to six-way talks |
