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Seoul glum on renewed North talks

"North Korea will be a complicated, hot topic when Hu meets Bush."

Masao Okonogi, Keio University law professor

South Korea yesterday dashed hopes of an early breakthrough on North Korea's nuclear drive, saying the North seems intent on shunning six-nation talks despite joining top negotiators for a forum here.

Chief negotiators from the six nations are gathering in Tokyo this week for a private security conference at a time when North Korea refuses to return to the formal talks on ending its nuclear ambitions.

But Chun Young-woo, South Korea's chief delegate to the stalled six-nation talks, said: "You had better not expect too much."

"North Korea seems to be toiling a lot over the current situation, but it seems not to be deciding to return to the six-way talks," Chun said after a closed-door workshop attended by his Pyongyang counterpart, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan.

"Under such circumstances, I think it will be difficult to have US-North Korean bilateral consultations," Chun said.

"This kind of unofficial meeting may help in understanding each other's position, but this is not the type of gathering that can produce a breakthrough," Chun said of the five-day conference.

The six-nation talks bogged down in November after the US accused Pyongyang of counterfeiting US dollars and laundering money. The North has denied the charge and demanded the US lift financial sanctions before it returns to the negotiating table.

"The United States knows very well what is necessary to resume the talks," Kim said on his arrival in Japan.

No meeting has been announced so far between Kim and his US counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.

Kim held separate bilateral talks on Saturday evening both with South Korea and Japan, which is embroiled in a row with the North over the regime's past abductions of Japanese civilians.

Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, a North Korea expert, said Pyongyang could use the "two-track" conference, involving private and public figures, to "make people feel like giving something to North Korea and asking the United States to be more lenient."

Hideshi Takesada, a professor at Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies, expects the North to use the Tokyo conference to try to persuade China, South Korea and Russia that the money-laundering allegations are false.

The stalemate in the talks will be embarrassing for Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) when he meets US President George W. Bush in Washington on April 20.

"North Korea will be a complicated, hot topic when Hu meets Bush. The six nations want to have some meeting in advance, albeit informally," Keio University law professor Masao Okonogi said. "If the six-nation framework collapses, it may lead to action on the part of the United Nations. That is something the six countries want to avoid."
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