The highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in South Korea on Tuesday called on North Korea to denuclearize, saying cooperation, not confrontation, with the rest of the world would bring benefits to it.
Ambassador Alexander Vershbow claimed the prospects of efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons were bright because the communist nation now "understands" the consequences of not working with the rest of the world.
The remarks came shortly after China, host of six-nation talks over the North's nuclear ambition, announced that the nuclear disarmament talks will reopen Feb. 8 in Beijing. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
The U.S. ambassador said establishing dates for the six-party talks was a significant development. However, he said that what is "more important...is to continue the unity among the five parties working to persuade North Korea" to abandon its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear ambition in a September 2005 meeting of the Beijing-based nuclear negotiations, but it has yet to do so, and instead set off a nuclear explosion last October.
The North's first nuclear test on Oct. 9 led the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution imposing wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions on the impoverished North.
Vershbow claimed perhaps the sanctions were what caused the North to return to the nuclear disarmament talks late last year after a 13-month hiatus.
"Pyongyang now understands such (punitive) actions are not only limited to the U.S.," and that the rest of the world will turn against the communist nation should it refuse to denuclearize, the U.S. diplomat said at an international symposium organized by the Asia-Pacific Policy Research Institute. As an invited speaker, Vershbow offered an American perspective on the changes taking place on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
Hopes are running high for an agreement in the upcoming round of the nuclear negotiations following recent dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
A group of U.S. financial teams, led by Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser, began working-group talks with their North Korean counterparts in Beijing earlier Tuesday to discuss U.S. sanctions on a Macau bank suspected of aiding the North's illicit financial activities, such as counterfeiting and money laundering.
Pyongyang stayed away from the nuclear talks for 13 months, accusing Washington of trying to isolate and stifle the impoverished nation. The nuclear negotiations resumed in December, but ended without any significant progress as North Korean negotiators refused to discuss the nuclear issue, demanding that the U.S. first remove the financial sanctions.
Vershbow said progress at the next round must include "concrete steps" by North Korea to denuclearize, as well as efforts by the other participants to provide promised benefits, including "economic and energy assistance."
Seoul, Jan. 30 (Yonhap News)
N. Korea understands benefits of denuclearization: U.S. ambassador |
