Christopher Hill, Washington's chief nuclear envoy, can visit Pyongyang for bilateral talks with North Korea if the communist regime shows signs of rejoining the six-way talks on its nuclear program, the top U.S. envoy here said Thursday.
U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow said Hill's trip to Pyongyang is among a number of possibilities that are "available if the North Koreans are prepared to come back to the six-party process."
"I think that possibility has never been excluded," the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency at his office in Seoul, when asked if Assistant Secretary of State Hill could travel to Pyongyang.
He recalled Hill's aborted plan to go to the North Korean capital nearly a year ago, when the country vowed to abandon its nuclear program in return for economic aid and security guarantees from the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
Hill, formerly the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, planned to visit Pyongyang shortly after the Sept. 19 joint statement was signed in 2005.
But he shelved the plan in the face of opposition from his hard-line colleagues in the Bush administration.
"Unfortunately, that proved impossible because North Koreans were unwilling even to suspend their production of plutonium in the Yongbyon reactor," Vershbow said. "So that opportunity was missed."
The envoy stressed the need for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. and North Korean negotiators to resolve the nuclear crisis, saying "there is a huge gulf of mistrust between us."
"Our position has been for some time that if the North Koreans clearly send signals that they are committed to coming back to the six-party talks, then there are many possibilities for bilateral contacts and there are many different forms or formats in which those talks can take place," he said.
He said Hill would be prepared to "enter into bilateral talks with a constructive spirit" if North Korea promises to rejoin the six-party process.
"So, how to get that message through to the North Korean leadership is a challenge," he said.
The North has been staying away from the disarmament negotiations, calling for a bilateral meeting with the U.S., which has been cracking down on Pyongyang's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.
Around the time when the North inked the joint statement a year ago, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted the Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macau-based bank, accusing it of working as a base for the North's illicit activities.
The BDA issue has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the resumption of the nuclear talks, and the U.S. is still in the process of investigating the case.
Vershbow refused to predict when his country would wrap up the probe.
He said the investigation is proceeding slowly as most of the related documents are handwritten rather than computerized.
He dismissed as groundless allegations that the U.S. is intentionally dragging its feet to use the BDA issue for political gain.
"I have been personally assured by very senior people in the Department of Treasury that they are moving as fast as they can and that they have no interest in prolonging this investigation any longer than necessary," he said.
The ambassador also indicated that the U.S. will not roll out additional sanctions on North Korea anytime soon, despite the decisions by Japan and Australia to follow up on the United Nations resolution to punish Pyongyang for its missile tests in July.
Vershbow said the measures by Japan and Australia are comparable to steps that the U.S. had already taken in terms of going after North Korean companies and banks related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"We are still considering what additional steps may be necessary. On our own part, we are proceeding in a deliberate manner. We are not rushing to any decisions," he said.
He expressed hope that North Korea will comply with the demands of the U.N. resolution.
"There is still time for North Korea to pull back from the brink.
I hope they do," he said.
On last week's summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, Vershbow said it was extremely successful in that it helped the allies solidify their partnership.
"I think it defined a very constructive way forward, the so-called 'common and broad approach' to restarting the six-party talks," he said. The newly-presented mechanism is being worked out by working-level officials from both sides, which Vershbow described as consultations on ways to convince the North Koreans to end their boycott and return to negotiations.
"So the agreement of the summit was to take this concept and put, as we say, 'meat on the bones,'" he said.
Seoul, Sept. 21 (Yonhap News)
Hill to visit Pyongyang if N. Korea warms to talks: Vershbow |
