N. Korea Invited to U.S. for Nuke Talks
SEOUL, South Korea — A senior North Korean diplomat believed to be an important strategist in his government’s nuclear negotiations with the United States will visit New York this week to discuss restarting talks seeking to end the North’s nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday. Mrs. Clinton said <a href="http://www.buffalobillsnfljersey.com/products/NFL-Jerseys-18/Chicago-Bears-421/"><strong>Cheap Bears Jerseys 2011</strong></a> in a statement that the United States had invited the diplomat, Kim Kye-gwan, the first vice foreign minister, for “an exploratory meeting to determine if North Korea was prepared to affirm its obligations under” previous international agreements on nuclear disarmament and to “take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization.” In November, the North revealed an industrial-scale plant for enriching uranium that showed it was gaining a new means to make nuclear bombs in addition to its existing plutonium program. The six-nation talks aimed at ending the program collapsed in 2009 in a dispute over how transparent North Korea’s nuclear programs should be. Since then, the North has escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula with a nuclear test and the military provocation of the South. The timing of Washington’s invitation to Mr. Kim provides another sign that the countries involved in the talks — which also included China, Russia and Japan — were serious about restarting the negotiations. As the United States and South Korea cautiously move forward, one concern is how to ensure that renewed discussions with the North will not turn into what officials in Seoul term as “talk for talk’s sake.” Years of on-and-off talks that have been marked by recriminations and broken promises have left officials in Seoul unsure whether North Korea is willing to <a href="http://www.discountsoccershirt.com/products/Soccer-Jerseys-15/Real-Madrid-360/"><strong>Real Madrid Jersey 2011 2012</strong></a> give up its nuclear weapons programs in return for economic and diplomatic rewards, or whether it has simply been using the talks to win economic aid. “We are open to talks with North Korea, but we do not intend to reward the North just for returning to the table,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We will not give them anything new for actions they have already agreed to take. And we have no appetite for pursuing protracted negotiations that will only lead us right back to where we have already been.” Such comments have been repeated numerous times by frustrated <a href="http://www.rangersnhljersey.com/products/NHL-Jerseys-16/Chicago-Blackhawks-386/"><strong>Cheap Blackhawks NHL Jerseys</strong></a> officials in Washington. North Korea recently began seeking international aid to ease its chronic food shortage. When — or even whether — to provide food aid remains a contentious issue among experts on North Korea. The South Korean news agency Yonhap said Mr. Kim would probably meet with American diplomats like Stephen W. Bosworth, the special representative for North Korea policy. The two men met in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2009. Radio Free Asia, based in Washington, said Mr. Kim might also talk with Robert R. King, the special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. United States officials are sensitive about when, where and under what circumstances they meet diplomats from North Korea, since the two countries are still technically at war. The United States is also wary of North Korea’s penchant for snubbing South Korea to negotiate with the United States. Mr. Kim’s trip would follow a meeting on Friday between the chief nuclear negotiators of North and South Korea. Wi Sung-lack, the South <a href="http://www.jolintsai.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1114970#1114970"><strong>Tiffany Design With Gorgeous Craftsmanship | Tiffany Necklace</strong></a> Korean envoy, met with his newly appointed North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong-ho, during a regional security forum on the Indonesian island of Bali. South Korea has insisted that the North first meet with its negotiators to discuss its nuclear weapons before Washington sits down with the North or the six nations reconvene their talks.
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