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Seoul Sees North Korea Willing to Resume Talks
A top South Korean official said today that North Korea would be willing to resume stalled multilateral nuclear disarmament talks once a dispute with the United States over alleged financial misconduct was resolved, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 22). “We hope that North Koreans have realized all the serious implications of all these illicit activities,” Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told Reuters. “It seems to us the North Koreans are also very much interested in making a breakthrough in this stalled, deadlocked situation.” “I am not in a position at this time to give you any positive dates or timeline but we are trying to do our best,” he said. Pyongyang recently said it was open to adopting international financial regulations, joining a financial task force with the United States and punishing citizens found to be involved in the illegal drug trade, Ban said. “These kinds of announcements and measures taken by North Korea seem to suggest they are trying to send out some messages to us, particularly the United States,” he said. Ban said he hoped U.S. authorities would soon complete their investigation of Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, which Washington suspects of having helped launder North Korean funds. Ban added that a visit next month by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States could help restart the talks (Nesirky/Herskovitz, Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 23). Meanwhile in Beijing, Hu and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a joint statement calling for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, the Korea Herald reported. The two leaders endorsed the six-nation talks as the “practical and effective” approach to resolving the standoff (Korea Herald, March 23). China’s ambassador to Seoul said Tuesday that Beijing would not exert economic pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear programs, the Yonhap News Agency reported. “Sanctions cannot help solve problems. Depending on the political situation, the six parties should work together to find a mutually beneficial solution,” Ning Fukui said (Yonhap News Agency, March 22).
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