U.S. looks for action, not words from N. Korea

Kyodo News ^ | 06/17/05

[TigerLikesRooster]

Friday June 17, 10:03 PM

U.S. looks for action, not words from N. Korea

(Kyodo) _ The United States is looking for action, not words, from North Korea on its return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions, and will not accept any preconditions on Pyongyang's return to the negotiating table, the State Department said Friday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Friday that Pyongyang would return to the multinational talks as early as July, but conditioned the return on the United States treating it with respect as a partner, according to South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong Young.

Young addressed reporters after returning from a face-to-face meeting with Kim in Pyongyang on Friday.

"The bottom line we're looking for is actually getting back to the talks and engaging substantively," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. "Until we have a date, we don't have a date."

But the United States has not received any signal from China, a partner along with Japan, South Korea and Russia in the six-nation talks, that North Korea is ready to come back to the talks, Ereli said.

A senior state department official speaking on condition of anonymity said the United States is waiting for just such a sign from the Chinese that "there is really something in the works." ADVERTISEMENT

The first three rounds of the six-nation talks took place in Beijing, and pressure from China is seen as crucial to bringing North Korea back to the table.

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya raised hopes June 7 in the wake of a U.S. meeting with North Korean representatives in New York when he said North Korea would likely return to the talks within weeks.

But the senior State Department official said the ambassador's comment was based on U.S. statements and not on any independent contact with Pyongyang.

During the last round of talks a year ago the United States introduced a comprehensive proposal for North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program. North Korea failed to respond to the proposal and refused to attend the fourth round of talks scheduled for September.

Ereli emphasized that the United States is looking for substantial action by North Korea and that it is too soon to be hopeful.

"I don't want to engage in optimism or pessimism. Let's be realistic. Realism is a date, you're sitting at the table, you're talking seriously and substantively," Ereli said.

In a related matter, Ereli said that there would not be any bilateral meetings during an upcoming visit to the United States by Ri Gun, the vice director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. Affairs Department.

[TigerLikesRooster]

We will be picking over semantics again, as usual. N. Korea's diplomatic blame-game continues.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[AmericanInTokyo]

The DPRK pattern is exactly the same as in the last, I don't know, 10 rounds of brinksmanship negotiation. Same tactics. Same tit for tat. It is almost too predictable.

Now they will get pissed off at BUSH because he did not immediately reciprocate their "olive branch" put out on Thursday last week through the S. Korean delegation.