US, South Korea request sign of North's denuclearization

Jan 5, 2011, 12:55 GMT

Seoul - The United States and South Korea agreed that North Korea must take concrete measures toward denuclearization before international talks with its government could resume, a high-ranking South Korean official said Wednesday.

The six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programme have been stalled since 2008. Pyongyang has indicated a willingness to return to the table but has not taken any steps to demonstrate its commitment.

The official spoke in Seoul to national media after the US envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, met there with the South's nuclear envoy Wi Sung Lac.

The two diplomats agreed 'more than anything else that the North should show sincerity about denuclearization,' the official who requested anonymity was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency.

The US and South Korea also called for a 'stern response from the international community' to the North's recently upgraded uranium-enrichment programme, the official said, adding that the programme was in violation of a series of UN resolutions.

Concerns have risen in recent weeks amid increasing tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul and revelations about a previously unknown uranium-enrichment facility at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Bosworth and Wi also agreed Wednesday that relations between the Koreas should improve before the talks could resume, the official said.

On Saturday, Pyongyang stressed the importance of improving relations with its neighbour, in a New Year's message that seemed to indicate a willingness to return to the six-nation talks, which besides the two Koreas, involve the US, China, Japan and Russia.

But officials in the US said the apparent diplomatic overture was not enough. 'We do want to see specific things from North Korea,' State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

These would include 'a reduction of tension between North and South, an end to provocations and a seriousness of purpose' concerning a 2005 disarmament-for-aid deal, he said.

From Seoul, Bosworth was scheduled to travel on to China Wednesday and then Japan Thursday.

China, Stalinist North Korea's only major ally, has called for the six-way talks to restart, but Beijing has so far resisted international pressure, in particular from the White House, to rein in Pyongyang.

The State Department announced last week that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates would travel to East Asia on January 9 to visit China, Japan and South Korea.

US President Barack Obama was scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, January 19 in Washington, where the Korean situation was expected to feature on the agenda.

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