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Report: DPRK invites Obama's top envoys
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-25 16:57 SEOUL: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has invited top envoys of President Barack Obama to visit the nation in what would be the first nuclear negotiations between the two countries under his presidency, a news report said Tuesday.
The DPRK recently offered the invitation to Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to the DPRK, and chief nuclear negotiator Sung Kim, and the US government is strongly considering sending them to the DPRK next month, Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo daily reported. The US Embassy in Seoul said it has no comment on the report. The JoongAng report, citing an unidentified high-level diplomatic source in Washington, said the US diplomats might be able to meet with the DPRK leader Kim Jong Il during the visit, considering Pyongyang's recent conciliatory attitude. Yonhap news agency also reported that the DPRK has invited the two officials and that the US is reviewing the offer.
Pyongyang has long sought direct negotiations with Washington about its nuclear program and other issues, hoping to boost its international profile. The US has said it is willing to talk bilaterally to Pyongyang, but only within the framework of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan. Over the past year, the DPRK stoked tensions with nuclear and missile tests while boycotting international nuclear talks. But in recent weeks, the DPRK has become markedly more conciliatory toward the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK). The DPRK freed two American journalists following a trip to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton earlier this month. It has also released a ROK worker it held for more than four months, agreed to lift restrictions on border crossings with the ROK, and pledged to resume suspended joint inter-Korean projects and reunions of families separated during the Korean War over five decades ago. The ROK's Unification Ministry said Tuesday the recently released worker was forced to admit to some false allegations during "coercive" questioning in the DPRK. The ministry expressed regret over the case. Also Tuesday, Pyongyang accepted a ROK offer to hold Red Cross talks from Wednesday to Friday to organize a new round of reunions of separated families, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said. The DPRK also restored a direct telephone line via the border village of Panmunjom, he said. Despite the series of recent overtures from Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington have remained firm that they need to see the DPRK taking concrete steps on ending its nuclear programs before they consider softening their stance on a nation known for backtracking on agreements. "We are sticking to our existing position that we will continue faithfully carrying out UN resolutions while urging the DPRK to return to six-party talks" on its nuclear programs, Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said regarding talks over the weekend between Bosworth and ROK officials. Washington has been keeping up pressure on Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear programs, sending a senior official to Asia to seek support for stringent implementation of the UN sanctions meant to punish the DPRK for its May 25 nuclear test. The DPRK has long balanced stoking tensions with conciliatory overtures to extract concessions and head off sanctions. After a long impasse in the nuclear standoff, Pyongyang carried out its first-ever nuclear test in 2006. The bold move resulted in a UN sanctions resolution, but the DPRK got away unscathed by agreeing to return to the negotiating table. Subsequent talks made some progress, but stalled again later and led to Pyongyang's second nuclear test in May. The ROK and the US have repeatedly said they don't want to repeat this pattern. |
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