US tries, tries again to revive North Korean talks
SEOUL 鈥� The latest chapter in the quest for reopening dialogue with North Korea is ending on a distinctly downbeat note.
The US special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, making the circuit from Beijing to Seoul to Tokyo in quest of a strategy to bring Pyongyang back to six-party talks, did not attempt to visit the North but said 鈥渨e remain committed to 鈥� negotiations and dialogue.鈥�
With North Korea vowing never to return to six-party talks, though, the more immediate question may be how to respond if it makes good on its . Mr. Bosworth鈥檚 response was carefully vague.
鈥淭here will be consequences,鈥� he warned, without specifying what. 鈥淲e cannot control at this stage what North Korea does.鈥�
South Korean diplomats were more emphatic. 鈥�North Korea won鈥檛 be able to take provocative steps with impunity,鈥� said the South鈥檚 chief negotiator, Wi Sung Lac. 鈥淚t will pay the price.鈥�
Mr. Wi seemed wary of the notion of two-way dialogue between the US and North Korea, seen here as a plot to isolate the South, insisting 鈥渢he six-party process is at the heart of the effort.鈥�
Bosworth, taking off Monday for Tokyo, called on an old friend, Kim Dae Jung, who as president from 1998 to 2003 formed the South鈥檚 "Sunshine Policy" vis-脿-vis the North. Bosworth got to know Mr. Kim while ambassador here during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Kim鈥檚 formula is simple: Cooperation between the US and North Korea, he said in Beijing before seeing Bosworth here, would lead to 鈥渁 鈥榩eace regime鈥� on the Korean peninsula.鈥� The Korea Times noted that the US may prefer 鈥渂enign neglect鈥� in response to mounting North Korean threats since the UN Security Council condemned its test-firing a long-range missile on April 5.
