N Korea should seize 'tremendous opportunity': US envoy
Seoul: A top US envoy urged N Korea to seize a "tremendous opportunity" and return to 6-party nuke disarmament talks, but Pyongyang's official media said it was up to Washington to resolve the issue.
"There is a tremendous opportunity now for them to
take a constructive measure," Deputy Secretary of State James
Steinberg told reporters, asked if the North shows any sign of
returning to the six-party forum it quit in April.
"They've certainly given some indications that they
understand the value of re-engagement," Steinberg said, after
talks with South Korean officials during a five-nation
regional tour.
"We would like to see them take advantage of that."
Steinberg reiterated Washington's stance that it is
willing to hold direct talks with Pyongyang but only to bring
it back to the six-nation forum.
"It's important for North Korea to make clear that
it's prepared to engage on those terms," he said.
The talks group the two Koreas, the United States,
China, Russia and Japan. Pyongyang quit the forum in protest
at United Nations censure of its long-range rocket launch on
April 5.
It staged a second atomic weapons test in May,
incurring stronger UN sanctions supported even by its closest
ally, China.
The North wants direct talks with Washington on the
nuclear standoff.
Bureau Report