Pyongyang's call for direct talks with Washington is consistent with its long-time position, Chinese analysts said Monday. But like observers in the US, they believe it would be hard for President Barack Obama's administration to accept that call.
"The US may fall into DPRK's trap (if direct talks started), as Pyongyang may want Washington to resolve all problems, not just the nuclear issue, on the Korean Peninsula," said Yang Xiyu, a DPRK expert at the China Institute of International Studies.
That would include finalizing a formal peace agreement ending the Korean War, which has been suspended in an armistice since 1953. Pyongyang also wants to see the withdrawal of US troops from the Korean Peninsula, which would only occur as part of a final peace treaty.
"The US is not capable of doing so," Yang said. Washington will not exclude the Republic of Korea from such negotiations, and the US believes a peace deal can only be guaranteed if all nations in the region participate.
Also, Yang said, accepting the DPRK's call for direct talks would mean a success of Pyongyang's "blackmail" tactic after a flurry of provocations in recent months, including a nuclear test in May and a series of missile launches.
But Pang said the key issue is "what to discuss", not "whether to discuss".
"Even if they started direct talks, no major breakthrough could be achieved if no significant changes happened in the DPRK," he said. The US cannot accept establishing formal ties with the DPRK if the latter didn't abandon policies of military-comes-first or its pursuit for nuclear weapons, Pang said.
But Zhang Liangui, senior researcher on East Asia Studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said US-DPRK talks within the Six-Party Talks framework wouldn't be beneficial for China.
"Washington knows the DPRK would request more benefits before it concedes, so having others in the talks is the US plan to make other countries share the burden of offering benefits to Pyongyang," Zhang said.
He said non-nuclearization should be the priority if any progress can ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.
"A DPRK equipped with nuclear weapons would be a 'disaster' for the whole Northeast Asia region," said Zhang.
Zhang said Beijing should tell Pyongyang that peaceful negotiations are "the best, but not the only way" to address the issue. "China should say it would not rule out any measures to seek a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," he said.