Congressmen Confident North Korea Will Return to Six-Party Talks
06 September 2005
Leach, Lantos return from four-day visit with officials in Pyongyang
By Todd Bullock
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- After four days of meeting with high-ranking officials in Pyongyang, North Korea, two senior members of Congress say they are confident North Korea will return to Beijing the week of September 12 to resume talks to end its nuclear weapons programs.
"There was no indication that they would not come back," Representative James Leach said September 3 at a press conference in Beijing. Leach, a Republican from Iowa, is the chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
During their stay in North Korea, Leach and Tom Lantos, the most senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, met at length with authorities responsible for foreign policy, military affairs and trade, as well as with nongovernmental humanitarian aid workers.
Delegations representing North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have been meeting to clarify positions for the resumption of the fourth round of negotiations to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. The last round recessed August 7 after 13 days of talks in Beijing.
Original plans had aimed to resume the talks the week of August 29, but that date was pushed back to the week of September 12 after North Korea raised objections to military exercises in South Korea scheduled for August 22-September 2. (See related article.)
"Ulchi Focus Lens" is an annual two-week exercise conducted by U.S. and South Korean forces to improve coordination for conducting operations critical to the defense of the peninsula, according to U.S. Forces Korea.
"I pointed out these [exercises] were scheduled a long time ago,'' Lantos said, referring to his discussions with General Li Chan Bok of North Korea's army. He noted that China and Russia had also recently conducted military joint military exercises.
Leach urged North Korean officials to recognize that delaying the Six-Party Talks is not in anyone's interest – particularly the North Koreans' – and said there were significant advantages for Pyongyang in dealing with the Bush administration.
Lantos said North Korea's overtures in the Six-Party Talks have been received very positively in Washington, and added that it was significant that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had moved toward a Statement of Principles calling for the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including all of Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
"The resumption of the Six-Party Talks, as scheduled in just over a week, presents an historic opportunity to reshape the future of Northeast Asia, and of the relationship between North Korea and the United States," Lantos said. "If our negotiations can arrive at a Statement of Principles that will define the objectives of the Six-Party Talks, the prospects for security and peace will rise dramatically."
The congressmen urged North Korean leaders not to procrastinate any longer in returning to the Six-Party Talks.
If North Korea agrees to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, the United States is willing to offer aid to help North Korea promote economic development and trade with the world, Leach said. "We will do our best to help North Korea conduct trade around the world," he said.
Both Leach and Lantos urged officials to improve human rights in the DPRK, crack down on counterfeiting of foreign currencies, allow monitoring of foreign humanitarian assistance to North Korea, and foster cultural, educational and athletic exchanges with the United States.
Regarding possible cultural exchanges, the congressmen suggested that Washington would welcome the prospect of a U.S. tour by the Pyongyang Circus and a visit by the North Korean wrestling team.
Leach said the University of Iowa also has extended an invitation for North Korea to send a poet to its International Writers' Program.
The congressmen pointed out how important the role of the Korean exile community would be for North Korea if there were a change in relations with the United States.
"This community, which is North Korea's greatest critic," Leach observed, "could be expected to become its greatest facilitator of foreign trade."
For additional information about the Six-Party Talks, see U.S. Policy Towards North Korea.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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