Now the "Korea Herald" says that the NK will not boycott the talks. Go figure.
North Korea will appear in a next round of six-party talks despite its recent threats to boycott the dialogue aimed at tackling its nuclear weapons development, South Korea`s chief delegate to last week`s talks in Beijing said yesterday.
"If North Korea had made the remarks based on a genuine belief that such talks are useless, it would have expressed it in another way," Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said in an interview with KBS radio.
"I expect North Korea will come to the next round of talks," Lee added.
Since the Beijing meeting concluded on Friday, Pyongyang has denounced likeminded events as "useless and harmful," claiming they merely opened the communist state`s eyes to the need to strengthen its nuclear deterrent force.
Experts and officials here discounted the North`s bellicose remarks as a rhetorical tactic aimed at gaining the upper hand in future negotiations.
Lee said the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia failed to fix a date for reconvening the six-way dialogue because the North didn`t suggest a convenient schedule even though the other participants reached a consensus to open it in late October or in November.
The senior diplomat stressed Washington demonstrated a change in the way it deals with Pyongyang during the international gathering.
"The United States presented a path (toward resolving the nuclear standoff) and unveiled a more detailed position than before. It listened to the North and answered their questions with great patience and sincerity," Lee said.
The Foreign Ministry also revealed in its report to the National Assembly`s Unification and Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday that the United States noted during the Beijing meetings that future talks could incorporate North Korea`s security concerns in a specific manner.
"The United States presented an outline for settling the nuclear issue whereby it will respond with counter measures when the North scraps its nuclear program and pushes for resolving other North Korea issues including its missiles and conventional military forces on the path toward diplomatic normalization between the two nations," the report said.
It said the second full session of the six-party talks Thursday could proceed because the United States responded calmly to the North`s accusations.
Pyongyang has criticized Washington for pressing it to dismantle its nuclear facilities before providing a full security assurance and called for both sides to take simultaneous steps.
Ban Ki-moon, presidential advisor for the foreign policy, said the two sides "narrowed down their rift over the issue rather than completely agreeing on the principle of synchronized implementation."
Wrapping up the three-day talks in Beijing Friday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the participants concurred to settle the nuclear issue in a "parallel or synchronized" manner.
Pyongyang and Washington have made little progress in their 11-month nuclear impasse, opting instead for a frustrating tug-of-war over who should act first to crack the stalemate.
koreaherald.co.kr |
