U.S., Allies Say Door Open For Nuclear Talks With North Korea

South Korea, Japan and the United States on Tuesday said they would welcome North Korea back to the paralyzed aid-for-denuclearization negotiations it abandoned nearly three years ago, Reuters reported (see GSN, Jan. 17).

At their meeting in Washington, senior diplomats from the three allies "agreed that a path is open to North Korea towards the resumption of talks and improved relations with the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea through dialogue," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Seoul, Tokyo and Washington are participants in the moribund six-party nuclear talks that also involve China, North Korea and Russia. Negotiations were last held in late 2008 and the North formally abandoned the process in April 2009, one month before conducting its second nuclear test. Pyongyang for some time has voiced interest in returning to the nuclear talks but has balked at the preconditions set by Seoul and Washington, particularly that the North suspend its enrichment of uranium.

Uranium enrichment can yield both nuclear-weapon material and atomic energy fuel (JoAnne Allen, Reuters, Jan. 17).

The three nations reaffirmed their support for a 2005 deal with the North, "including its core goal of the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," Agence France-Presse quoted the State Department as saying.

South Korean representative to the six-nation talks Lim Sung-nam, who participated in Tuesday's meeting, told the Yonhap News Agency that Seoul, Washington and Tokyo agreed "South-North Korean relations and the U.S.-North Korea relationship can be improved through dialogue" (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, Jan. 18).

Japan's delegate to the nuclear talks, Shinsuke Sugiyama, said diplomats on Tuesday also pledged to work toward another meeting of the three allies' top diplomats in short order, Kyodo News reported.

The increased pace of diplomatic activity by the three countries falls amid international concerns the new North Korean regime of Kim Jong Un might move to demonstrate its authority by conducting another nuclear weapon test or launching a fresh attack on the South. Kim Jong Un succeeds his father, Kim Jong Il, who suffered a fatal heart attack in late 2011. Most foreign analysts expect the younger Kim will follow his father's militaristic policies (Kyodo News/Mainichi Daily News, Jan. 18).