Obama envoy warns DPRK on nuke test

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-09 07:44

SEOUL: US President Barack Obama's top envoy for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned of "consequences" if it pushes ahead with a threatened atomic test and urged Pyongyang to instead return to dialogue with Washington to defuse nuclear tensions.

Stephen Bosworth arrived in Seoul from Beijing just hours after the DPRK accused the Obama administration of harboring a hostile policy toward Pyongyang, saying it would expand its nuclear arsenal in response.

"Nothing would be expected from the US, which remains unchanged in its hostility toward its dialogue partner," the DPRK's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried on Friday by state media. The DPRK "will bolster its nuclear deterrent as it has already clarified."

Bosworth urged the DPRK - which shocked the world by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 - not to carry out another atomic test, as the country has threatened to do in retaliation for UN sanctions its recent rocket launch.

"If the North Koreans (DPRK) decide to carry out a second nuclear test, we will deal with consequences of that. And there will be consequences," Bosworth told reporters, without elaborating.

"But we can't control at this stage what North Korea does. We certainly very much hope that they will not do a second nuclear test," he said.

However, Bosworth said Washington is ready and willing to hold direct talks with Pyongyang.

"We would not interpret our policy as being hostile ... President Obama has stressed on numerous occasions that the door to dialogue remains open," he told reporters after talks with Seoul's foreign minister. He said he hopes Pyongyang realizes "it is in their interest to continue dialogue and negotiation on a multilateral basis".

Former President George W. Bush once refused direct talks with the DPRK - a country that he termed as part of an "axis of evil" - but agreed to allow an envoy engage in bilateral talks with the DPRK after Pyongyang conducted the nuclear test.

While campaigning for the presidency, Obama went further and said he would be willing to meet DPRK leader Kim Jong-il if it helps denuclearization. His administration has maintained support for the ongoing six-party nuclear negotiations, and Bosworth this week also offered direct talks between US and DPRK envoys.

Analyst Paik Hak-soon at the Sejong Institute think tank said the DPRK is trying to force Washington into higher-level direct talks in an attempt to reach a grand give-and-take deal. He said the DPRK appears to think the current envoy, Bosworth, is not senior enough.

"North Korea is applying maximum pressure on the United States to have bilateral talks in an attempt to restructure" the entire nuclear game, Paik said, adding that Pyongyang appears to be seeking a higher-level envoy with more deal-making power than Bosworth.

The Republic of Korea's (ROK) Chosun Ilbo newspaper recently reported "brisk" activity has been detected at the DPRK's nuclear test site, citing an unnamed ROK government source. The report could not be confirmed.

(China Daily 05/09/2009 page11)