The US assured North Korea of “a robust channel” for direct talks if the communist regime rejoined nuclear negotiations, while a senior US envoy was in Pyongyang yesterday to try to salvage the stalled talks.
US envoy Stephen Bosworth is on a mission to win North Korea’s commitment to return to negotiations on dismantling its nuclear program.
Pyongyang walked away from the six-nation talks earlier this year, angered by criticism of its nuclear and missile programs. A nuclear test soon followed.
Bosworth has said the disarmament talks — which involve the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the US — would be the focus of the three-day visit to Pyongyang, the first since US President Barack Obama took office.
US Department of State officials said Bosworth, who arrived on Tuesday, was to hold high-level talks yesterday before departing for Seoul today. Officials did not say who Bosworth and his delegation would meet.
There was speculation that North Korea would demand that the US sign a peace treaty with Pyongyang in return for a “yes” to the six-party talks.
The two Koreas have been locked in a truce, without a peace treaty, since the close of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Wary of the 28,500 troops Washington has stationed in South Korea, Pyongyang has long sought a peace treaty with the US.
US officials say discussion of a peace treaty is not on the agenda for Bosworth’s trip to the North. However, US Department of State spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday that it “would not surprise us” if the North raised other issues.
“We will make clear to them that should they return to the six-party process and should they reaffirm their commitments” under a 2005 disarmament pact, “then there is available to them a robust channel for bilateral dialogue,” Crowley said.
However, if Pyongyang agrees, the US can promise “a robust channel for bilateral dialogue with which we could discuss a wide range of issues,” he said.
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