(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) The United States is genuinely interested in holding talks with North Korea about how to resume the long-stalled denuclearization negotiations and it does not matter whether such discussions take place in Pyongyang or elsewhere, US Special Representative for North Korea policy Amb. Sung Kim said Saturday.
Kim made the remark in an exclusive interview with (Yonhap) News Agency, stressing the North should come back to the negotiating table and honor its own commitment to give up its nuclear program. "For us, the important thing is that we focus on the common goal of denuclearization. In order to resume meaningful negotiations, we need to talk to the North Koreans to prepare for that resumption. Of course, we're willing to talk to them," the envoy said.
Kim said the US still maintains contact with the North through the "New York channel," which refers to the North's mission to the United Nations and has let the North Koreans know that it's open to such exploratory talks. But the North has shown no interest in talks about denuclearization, he said. Kim said the US approach to North Korea consists of three pillars: deterrence, diplomacy and pressure.
The interview was held on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of a landmark agreement that the six-party talks produced in 2005, in which Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear program in exchange for diplomatic recognition and economic concessions. Implementation of the agreement, known as the "Sept. 19 Joint Statement," showed some progress in following years, with North Korea demolishing a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2007 in a show of its commitment to denuclearization.
But disagreement over verifying Pyongyang's past nuclear activity led to the suspension of the negotiations. While the talks idled, the North, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, conducted two more nuclear tests, one in 2009 and another in 2013. participated in the nuclear program of Pyongyang six-party talks, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas. The United States, the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia are participating in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
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