Asia-Pacific
Effort to restart talks 'constructive'
By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-25 08:43
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Meetings in Beijing and Seoul this week aim to bring DPRK to table
US nuclear envoy Stephen Bosworth met Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei, and said they had a "useful exchange of views" on the current status and efforts to restart the Six-Party Talks, and the next move forward.
"We talked about a number of things we might do on each side to try and regain the momentum and return to the negotiating table," he said.
But he added that it's still too premature to discuss specific options and the US is strongly committed to the pursuit of the use of diplomacy to achieve denuclearization and the stability of the Korean Peninsula.
On his second stop, Bosworth today will meet with Wi Sung-lak, the top envoy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the Six-Party Talks, to discuss their bilateral cooperation on reopening the stalled talks.
Wi arrived back in Seoul on the same day Bosworth arrived in Beijing, following discussions with China on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, as part of a two-day visit that began on Tuesday.
Wi told reporters Wednesday that his talks with Chinese officials were "constructive" on how to restart the Six-Party Talks.
"It was useful for the ROK and China to review the situation and discuss where we are now." ROK's Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying.
Wi, however, said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) appears to remain intransigent in its calls for a peace treaty ending the Korean War and a lifting of sanctions as conditions for its return to the talks.
Wi met with China's Wu on Tuesday, but the Yonhap news agency reported that Wi did not plan to see Bosworth or Kim Yong-il, director of DPRK's International Affairs Department who led a delegation to Beijing to hold talks with Chinese officials.
In talks on Tuesday between Kim and his Chinese counterpart Wang Jiarui, the two touched upon denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the Foreign Ministry said. However, no further details were released.
Wang was in the DPRK from Feb 6 to 9, and during the closely-watched trip, he met leader Kim Jong-il. A day later, DPRK Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, who is also the country's top nuclear negotiator, visited China.
The US has strongly backed efforts to restart the China-hosted talks, but "the key to getting to that point is for the North to come back to the six-party process, which they're struggling to do," State Department spokesman P.J.Crowley said on Tuesday, prior to Bosworth's trip to China, the ROK and Japan.
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Bosworth is establishing what the other key parties' stances and plans are before negotiating a timetable for restarting the disarmament-for-aid talks, Liu said.
Bosworth noted China's recent contacts with the DPRK and said, "it's a great timely opportunity to exchange views and conversations" between the US and China.
He said all parties were looking forward to an early resumption of the six-party process which sticks to the joint statement of Sep 2005.
Talks between the top negotiators have come at a time when hopes for resuming the stalled talks have increased following the recent high-level visits between Pyongyang and Beijing, which Seoul has said is a positive sign but not a guarantee that the resumption is imminent.
Last year the DPRK quit the talks involving China, Russia, the US, Japan and the ROK, and conducted a second nuclear test, drawing tightened UN sanctions.
