North Korea to return to nuclear talks
US: Deal struck on six-nation arms negotiations
BEIJING -- North Korea has agreed to return to six-nation talks later this month on the elimination of its nuclear arsenal, ending a year-long boycott, US officials said yesterday.
The agreement to restart the talks was reached at a rare dinner here between a senior US official and his North Korean counterpart, held shortly before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived here last night for talks with Chinese officials on the North Korean impasse.
During the dinner, North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Gye Gwan told Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill that North Korea was willing to attend talks the week of July 25. In what US officials took as a hopeful sign, Kim said the purpose of the talks was the ''denuclearization of the Korean peninsula" and that North Korea intended to make progress at the negotiations.
Rice was to meet with Chinese president Hu Jintao, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, and other Chinese officials this morning. She then was to fly to Phuket, Thailand, for a scheduled tour tomorrow of damage from last winter's Indian Ocean tsunami. After the Thailand visit, she will return to East Asia for talks with Japanese and South Korea officials, also largely focusing on the North Korean issue.
China has already announced that State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan -- a former foreign minister who also will meet with Rice -- will visit Pyongyang Tuesday to Thursday as Hu's personal envoy, apparently to report on the discussions with Rice.
Speaking before her arrival and before the announcement of North Korea's return, Rice told reporters traveling with her that she wanted to make the trip -- her second to the region in four months -- because ''this is a good time to take stock, to have a chance to talk to the various parties." She said that in the past six weeks, ''there is a lot of ferment, a lot of activity" indicating that North Korea may soon reconsider its decision earlier this year to abandon the talks.
''Sometimes all of that activity comes to naught but often all of the activity, if channeled, can produce an outcome," Rice said. She added: ''We want to open every possibility, every door for the North Koreans to come back, if they will."
Rice said she also plans to raise human rights and religious freedom issues with the Chinese, including China's recent discussions with a representative of Tibet's Dalai Lama. Her visit here comes three weeks before her deputy, Robert Zoellick, is scheduled to arrive here for two to three days of intensive discussions to inaugurate a new high-level ''global dialogue" with China.
US officials said that Zoellick during his talks will focus on political and economic issues, such as US concerns about China's dealings with Venezuela, Burma, Sudan and other countries in its search for energy supplies.
One issue that Rice will not discuss with the Chinese is
The six governments participating in the North Korean talks are China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, North Korea, and United States.
Only three sessions have been held, with the last in June 2004, and little progress has been made at any of the meetings.
In February, the government in Pyongyang declared it had nuclear weapons and would refuse to attend the talks, citing the Bush administration's ''hostile policy."
More recently, however, it has suggested it would return -- without setting a date -- if the United States showed proper respect.
China's role in the North Korean impasse has been largely as an intermediary between the United States and North Korea and as a host of the talks.
Rice during her visit here in March suggested that the parties consider other options, including referring the matter to the UN Security Council, if North Korea did not return to talks. But she indicated that such possible sanctions are not high on her agenda on this trip.
