US Willing to Talk to NK on Nuke Issue
WASHINGTON 09 Jan 2003 -- The United States has clarified it will begin dialogue with North Korea even before the North fully complies with obligations stipulated by various international nuclear agreements.
"We are going to have dialogue with North Korea about how it is going to end them (the nuclear weapons programs)," State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said during a press briefing just after a three-way meeting of South Korea, the United States and Japan on the North Korean nuclear issue, which ended here Tuesday.
Responding to a question about whether the U.S. will talk directly to the North Koreans without them first coming back into compliance with their obligations, Boucher said, "That's correct. I'll remind you what President George Bush said on Wednesday (Jan. 8). He said we will have dialogue."
Senior officials from the three nations, who got together for the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting, also backed up the U.S. stance in a joint statement adopted at the end of the meeting held at the State Department building.
"The U.S. is willing to talk to North Korea about how it will meet its obligations to the international community," according to the statement.
But the U.S. has made it clear that it will not make any concessions to induce North Korea to resume dialogue.
"The U.S. delegation stressed that the United States will not provide quid pro quos to North Korea to live up to its existing obligations," read the statement.
Boucher also said the first thing the North Koreans have to indicate is that they are willing to abandon these nuclear programs, to end them in a visible and verifiable manner. "And we would be prepared to talk about that," he said.
The statement went on to call on North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program and reiterated TCOG members' intention to pursue a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the issue.
The three nations stressed that North Korea's relations with the entire international community hinges on its taking prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program and come into full compliance with its international nuclear commitments.
But the statement did not mention the North's calls for a non-aggression pact with the United States, apparently supporting the U.S. position that the issue will not be subject to negotiation.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tai-sik, who led the Korean delegation, positively assessed the outcome of the trilateral meeting. "The environment has improved considerably and we managed to lay the groundwork for a peaceful resolution of the issue," he said.
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly led the U.S. delegation while the Japanese side was headed by Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of Asian and Oceanian Affairs at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
As follow-up to the TCOG meeting, more multilateral high-profile meetings are scheduled. Kelly will visit Seoul Jan. 12 while Deputy Secretary of State John Bolton will also make tours of South Korea, China and Japan next week.
Senior Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security Yim Sung-joon, now visiting this U.S. capital city, was supposed meet with ranking U.S. officials Wednesday to discuss North Korea issue including National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice Secretary of State Richard Arimtage. He will also fly to Japan Jan. 9 for talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and other ranking officials.
Source : www.korea.net
