North Korea's envoy to international disarmament talks said yesterday that his country was ready to work on eliminating atomic weapons from the Korean Peninsula, while the US reassured the communist nation at the revived negotiations that it has no intention of invading to end the nuclear standoff.
"The fundamental thing is to make real progress in realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Key-wan said at the opening session of the talks in Beijing.
"This requires very firm political will and a strategic decision of the parties concerned that have interests in ending the threat of nuclear war," he said. "We are fully ready and prepared for that."
In the past, North Korea has said denuclearization of the peninsula also includes removing alleged US nuclear weapons from South Korea. Both Washington and Seoul have denied any such weapons are present.
The talks that began yesterday are the fourth such six-nation negotiations, which also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US. They are reconvening after a 13-month boycott by the North, which cited "hostile" US policies.
North Korea agreed to return to the talks following a meeting earlier this month between Kim and the main US envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who assured the North that Washington recognized its sovereignty.
Yesterday, Hill repeated those pledges.
"We view [North Korea's] sovereignty as a matter of fact. The US has absolutely no intention to invade or attack" North Korea, Hill said in his opening remarks.
Unlike the previous rounds, which were scheduled for several days, no end date has been set for this week's resumed negotiations.
Hill said yesterday his delegation would remain in Beijing "so long as we are making progress in these talks." He has previously said he doesn't expect this round to be the last of the six-nation talks.
"We do not have the option of walking away from this problem," he said.
Hill also said the US would address the North's security and energy concerns after the nuclear issue is resolved.
"Nuclear weapons will not make [North Korea] more secure," he said. "And in fact, on the contrary, nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula will only increase tension in the region."
In a nod to Pyongyang, Hill said if North Korea "permanently, fully and verifiably" dismantles its nuclear programs, the US and other countries would offer measures "consistent with the principle of `words for words and actions for actions.'" That principle was contained in a statement at the end of the last round of talks in June last year and been repeatedly invoked by North Korea as one of its demands.
In a departure from previous meetings, Hill met his North Korean counterpart on Monday ahead of the official opening of the talks.
The US and North Korea held another meeting later yesterday after the talks opened, a US embassy spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. No details of their discussion were released.
At the talks' opening, South Korea's envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, repeated yesterday his nation's offer of massive electricity aid to the North if it agrees to disarm.
In Seoul, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told a meeting of the ruling Uri Party that discussions on details of the offer to the North could begin as soon as Pyongyang agrees to abandon nuclear weapons.
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