Lee Jong-seok, South Korea's point man on North Korea, urged the United States on Monday to show more flexibility in dealing with the communist state, Lee's spokesman said, as a senior U.S. envoy warned that Pyongyang will face more economic sanctions unless it rejoins the six-way talks on its nuclear program.
During his 50-minute talks with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Unification Minister Lee stressed the need for the U.S. and other concerned nations to have various forms of dialogue with the North, according to the ministry's chief spokesman Yang Chang-seok.
"Minister Lee said there should be no restrictions on the form of dialogue for the resumption of the six-way talks," Yang told reporters after the closed-door talks at the ministry's headquarters in Seoul.
Analysts saw Lee's remarks as a request for Washington to have a bilateral meeting with Pyongyang in order to help revive the stalled disarmament negotiations.
The U.S. has insisted that North Korea first commit to returning to the six-party talks.
"They (North Koreans) know that whenever they want to come back to the talks, I will meet them bilaterally as many times as they would like," Hill said. He arrived in Seoul earlier Monday for a two-day stay as part of his Northeast Asian swing that also took him to Japan and China.
Hill urged North Korea to have "a sense of realism," citing the Sept. 19 joint statement which allows the isolated country to gain economic aid and security guarantees if it abandons its nuclear program.
"If they come back to the talks, what we ought to do as quickly as possible is to implement the September agreement. That September agreement, in those two and a half short pages, really lays out a very bold path toward a whole different future for the DPRK," he said. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
But he warned that North Korea will have to bear the brunt of additional economic sanctions if it continues to stay away from the nuclear talks.
The U.S. crackdown on both the North's illegal activities and its spreading of weapons of mass destruction received a boost from a resolution by the United Nations Security Council rebuking Pyongyang for its decision to test a barrage of missiles in July.
"All countries are required to implement the Resolution 1695 to show vigilance toward the problem of North Korea accumulating technology and funding for these programs," he said.
Washington reportedly plans to announce a package of additional economic sanctions on Pyongyang later this month to follow through on the resolution.
Hill refused to give a timetable for the measure, however.
Regarding worries about the North's possible nuclear test, he said it would be a "very provocative act, a very negative act and one that would really be very harmful to the whole process," adding that he has no information as to whether a test is imminent.
Global concern over a possible nuclear test by North Korea has been rekindled in recent weeks after a U.S. television network said U.S. officials detected some suspicious vehicle movement around an alleged atomic bomb-testing site in the reclusive nation.
There have also been recent media reports of a widening gap between Seoul and Washington on how to handle North Korea.
South Korea is worried about the adverse effects of adopting such pressure tactics on the North, calling instead for a two-pronged approach as advocated by China.
Hill also met with South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and the country's top nuclear negotiator, Chun Yung-woo, on Monday.
Seoul, Sept. 11 (Yonhap News)
Seoul calls for Washington's flexibility on Pyongyang |
