China: US talks with N. Korea a good beginning

Xinhua Net

U.S. envoy says Beijing talks "good beginning" for resuming six-party talks

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. envoy said Saturday the latest round of talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) marked a "good beginning" in efforts to resume stalled talks over ending its nuclear program.

Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, arrived in Seoul earlier in the day to brief Lim Sung-nam, South Korea's top envoy to the six-party talks, on the two-day talks in Beijing between him and his DPRK counterpart Kim Kye-kwan.

Davies said Friday there was "a little progress" in the Beijing talks, the first since the death of top DPRK leader Kim Jong Il last December stalled discussions over possible U.S. food assistance to the DPRK.

Davies' predecessor Stephen Bosworth met with Pyongyang's first vice minister Kim twice last year to narrow their differences over reviving the disarmament-for-aid talks, but no breakthrough was achieved.

Before meeting Lim Saturday, Davies played down hopes for the immediate resumption of the six-party forum, saying, "We are so long away from anything like that."

"(The Beijing talks marked a) good beginning with the new government in the DPRK," the U.S. diplomat told reporters after sitting down with Lim. ""I think it is significant that in a relatively short period of time after change in leadership in the North, the DPRK decided to reengage."

"We hope and we expect that the DPRK will choose to go down the path of greater engagement and indeed ultimately cooperation," Davies, a former American ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, added.

The two envoys vowed to continue close policy coordination between the allies on the DPRK's nuclear issues.

"We agreed that North Korea (DPRK)-U.S. talks provided a useful opportunity for discussions over resuming the six-party talks," Lim said.

South Korea hopes the third round of separate inter-Korean denuclearization talks could be held in the process of restarting the six-party process, the envoy added. The previous two rounds were held last year in Bali and Beijing, respectively.

The disarmament talks, which also involve China, Japan and Russia, were last held in December 2008. The DPRK unilaterally quit the forum in April 2009 but has expressed its wish to return to the negotiating table.

While Seoul and Washington insist Pyongyang show commitment to denuclearization before returning to the talks, Pyongyang rejects such preconditions.

Lingering tension on the divided peninsula following the two deadly border incidents in 2010 poses another challenge to the resumption of long-stalled nuclear negotiations, as Seoul and Washington call for an inter-Korean dialogue.

Pyongyang has said it will continue producing low-enriched uranium in defiance of international calls to halt all nuclear activities, which the DPRK authorities say are for peaceful purposes.

Editor: Lu Hui

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/25/c_131431370.htm