The top U.S. nuclear envoy called on North Korea Friday to show “serious commitment” toward denuclearization if Pyongyang wants to resume the long-stalled six-party talks aimed at ending the North’s nuke program.
Sung Kim, the new special representative for North Korea policy, was in Seoul as part of his three-nation Asian tour that includes stops in Japan and China. The tour is aimed at discussing ways to reopen the six-party talks on denuclearizing the North.
“North Korea needs to demonstrate their serious commitment to denuclearization before we can resume any negotiations,” Kim told a group of reporters.
Sung Kim, the top U.S. nuclear envoy, talks with reporters after a meeting with Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s special representative for peace and security affairs on the Korean Peninsula, at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)
He said it would be a mistake for parties involved in the talks to rush back into the negotiations unless they are confident that Pyongyang is ready to work in a sincere and serious manner toward complete and verifiable denuclearization.
His remarks came after he and Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul’s special representative for peace and security affairs on the Korean Peninsula, held talks earlier in the day.
Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, arrived in Seoul a day earlier as part of his first trip to the region as the top U.S. negotiator for the six-party talks. He took office last month.
The six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan have been stalled since late 2008, when Pyongyang walked away from the negotiating table.
Kim’s visit came as Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, told Russian officials during his recent trip to Moscow that Pyongyang is willing to resume the talks without preconditions.
Seoul and Washington have demanded the North first take concrete steps demonstrating its commitment to denuclearization.
China, a traditional ally of the North, has insisted that South Korea and the U.S. should lower the bar for the talks.
During his recent trip to Russia, Seoul’s top nuke envoy Hwang told reporters in Moscow that Seoul is prepared to resume the six-party talks if the North shows strong signs that it will have “constructive dialogue” for denuclearization.
The trip also came amid reports that North Korean government officials and U.S. security experts are looking into a possible meeting in Singapore next month.
But Kim said that he does not “assign any special meaning” to the upcoming meeting as there have been such meetings between North Korean and U.S. academics.
When it comes to possible bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang, Kim said that the U.S. is “open to diplomacy” with the North as it has repeatedly said.
“But they have shown very little interest in engaging us in a substantive manner on the important topic of denuclearization.”
Kim, a career diplomat with expertise in the North Korean nuclear issue, became the top U.S. nuclear envoy after completing a three-year stint as ambassador to Seoul. Kim also doubles as deputy assistant secretary for Korea and Japan.
Kim’s regional trip also includes three-day stops each in Japan and China. He will leave for Japan on Monday for a three-day visit.
Kim will then visit Beijing on Dec. 10 for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei. (Yonhap)
