What's going on? Looks like good news. If this is what it
looks like, it's a tremendous victory for Bush that the NK
would have never dealt to Kerry. But don't hold your breath
waiting for the MSM to admit it. It will be another, "Oh,
Reagan was just there when the USSR imploded." (Hat tip to
LindyBill)
N.Korea Wants Urgent Nuclear Talks, U.N. Says
Wed Nov 24,11:31 PM ET
By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea wants urgently to restart six-party talks on its nuclear programs but is still demanding of its certain conditions be met, a top U.N. official told South Korea's Yonhap news agency on Thursday.
North Korea still agreed with the format of the talks, it quoted Jean Ping, president of the U.N. General Assembly, as saying. Officials told him during a visit that Pyongyang was committed to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, it said.
"North Korea not only agreed to the format of the talks but also believes that the talks should restart urgently," Ping was quoted as saying.
"The only way to restart the talks is to give up the confrontational positions and to create a climate," Ping was quoted as saying when asked about the prospect of restarting the talks. Ping is Gabon's foreign minister.
North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China have met for three inconclusive rounds of the talks but a fourth round set for September did not materialize. Analysts said Pyongyang wanted to see the outcome of the U.S. election before resuming talks.
North Korea has demanded the withdrawal of what it calls a hostile U.S. policy before it will return to dialogue.
It was not immediately clear whether the message Ping received went beyond North Korea's previously stated readiness to return to talks if the conditions were right.
Ping said on Wednesday North Korea had asked him to carry a message to Washington that it wanted to "co-exist" with the United States.
KIM RUMORS SWIRL
The State Department said it was prepared to resume talks without preconditions and urged the North to do the same.
"We would welcome any indication of North Korea's willingness to return to the table," State Department spokesman Darla Jordan said, adding that the U.S. administration had not yet received the message that Ping was carrying.
The United States has said the North should follow the steps of Libya and reap the rewards of abandoning nuclear programs and joining the international community.
Analysts have said Pyongyang seems to be edging back to the table now President Bush has been re-elected.
Ping's visit to Pyongyang came after reports surfaced last week that some portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had been removed in the secretive communist state, triggering speculation that his grip on power may be slipping.
North Korea experts said the move was likely Kim's own attempt to project a more rounded image of his leadership.
Rumors circulated in currency and stock markets in Seoul and Tokyo early on Thursday that Kim had been shot dead.
"There have been various rumors about North Korea and some do have an impact on the market, but this time there's no reaction," said a foreign exchange dealer at a bank in Seoul.
A South Korean government official said he had no knowledge of the latest rumors, but said there was no indication of "an abnormal current" in the communist state.
Ping said he did not meet the North Korean leader in Pyongyang.
Do Hee-youn, a South Korean activist who works closely with North Korean defectors, said some people high in the regime were disgruntled about the system and would like to see Kim go.
However, he said nothing was happening right now.
A pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan, Chosun Sinbo, said on Thursday Kim had the absolute support of the North Korean people and news reports that questioned his authority were "intentionally distorting" the conditions in the North. |
