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US, ROK seek new door to nuke talks

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-22 08:25

SEOUL: The US and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are developing a "comprehensive" strategy for persuading its neighbor to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, breaking from the step-by-step process that has seen Pyongyang backtrack on pledges.

Assistant US Secretary of State Kurt Campbell discussed the new strategy with chief ROK nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac during talks on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said yesterday.

The possibility of a new approach came as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) hardened its boycott of international nuclear talks after carrying out its second atomic weapons test and test-firing a barrage of banned missiles in defiance of UN sanctions.

Campbell first spoke of the idea on Saturday, saying the US and its partners would be prepared to offer a "comprehensive package that would be attractive" to the DPRK if it returned to multinational talks aimed at ending its nuclear programs and took irreversible steps to disarm.

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ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told lawmakers in Seoul on Monday that such a package approach would be aimed at resolving all outstanding issues at once by putting all of the DPRK's obligations and demands on the table.

Yu did not elaborate but said disarming the DPRK in phases, the approach the talks have pursued so far, is difficult because Pyongyang can reverse the steps it has taken.

"We can't repeat the past negotiating pattern" of rewarding the DPRK for partial denuclearization steps, ministry spokesman Moon said. "We plan to continue consultations with related countries about a comprehensive solution."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the US is willing to do its part if the DPRK agrees to resume the nuclear dialogue and take steps toward nuclear disarmament.

Crowley said Pyongyang will pay a significant price unless it returns to talks.

The DPRK agreed in February 2007 to disable its nuclear reactor as a step toward its ultimate dismantlement in exchange for energy aid and political concessions.

But a year ago Pyongyang halted the process and later abandoned the pact over a dispute on how to verify its nuclear activities.

Amid the standoff, Pyongyang conducted its second nuclear test in May and banned missile tests early this month, moves which some analysts believed were aimed at drawing the attention of the new US administration.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US was intentionally playing down the impact of DPRK nuclear tests, so as not to give the DPRK "the satisfaction they were looking for, which was to elevate them to center stage." she said.

Reuters