Washington, Pyongyang agree to bilateral talks: report
- Source: Global Times
- [02:13 November 05 2009]
- Comments
By Park Gayoung and Sun Wei
North Korea and the US have made "substantial progress" by agreeing to hold two rounds of bilateral talks before the North returns to the Six-Party Talks, the US-based Foreign Policy magazine reported.
The magazine said on its website Wednesday, quoting an unnamed US official, "Substantial progress was made in behind-the-scenes talks between Sung Kim, the US State Department's special envoy to the Six-Party Talks, and Ri Gun, North Korea's lead negotiator," during last week's discussions in New York and San Diego, California.
The two sides have agreed to hold two rounds of formal bilateral talks before returning to multilateral talks. The North had previously said it would return to the multilateral talks only if the bilateral meetings went well, according to the report.
"The purpose of the bilateral engagement would be to facilitate early resumption of the Six-Party Talks and for the North to reaffirm their commitment to the September 2005 Six-Party joint statement and its goal of the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," the US embassy in Beijing told the Global Times in an e-mailed statement.
"The US continues to consider North Korea's invitation for US Ambassador for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth to visit Pyongyang. No decision has yet been made," the embassy said.
Bosworth, who has been repeatedly invited to North Korea, would be able to meet with Kong Sok-ju, North Korea's first vice foreign minister, rather than with chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan.
"By meeting with Kong, Bosworth could leapfrog Ri and his boss, vice minister of foreign affairs Kim Kye-gwan," Foreign Policy said.
However, the North "demurred" on Sung Kim's demand that the North abide by a September 2005 six-party nuclear deal, the magazine said.
The North Korean embassy in Beijing refused to confirm the news.
South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Wi Sung-lac, told the Yonhap News Agency yesterday that the US is expected to decide soon whether and when to hold the bilateral dialogue.
Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday that Ri denied, when asked in a forum held in New York Friday, if North Korea is demanding to be recognized as a nuclear power, according to South Korea's Yonhap News.
North Korea announced Tuesday that it had completed reprocessing spent fuel rods to produce more plutonium for its atomic weapons program, seen as a strategy to give it a head start in bilateral talks.
Agencies contributed to this story
