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US asks China to push for N. Korea talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-10 09:06
US President Bush sent an envoy to China last week to urge a renewed push to
get North Korea back to stalled negotiations over its nuclear weapons program,
U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The envoy, Michael Green, an Asian expert on the National Security Council,
carried with him a letter for Chinese President Hu Jintao, the officials said.
Similar letters were given to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"We feel and believe that the Chinese government does understand the threat a
nuclear-armed Korean Peninsula represents and thus understands the need for
North Korea to return to the six-party talks," said a senior administration
official.
Another official said Green had delivered a message to the Chinese about
information suggesting that Libya had obtained uranium hexafluoride from North
Korea and made the case that this underscored the need to restart six-party
talks.
"My understanding of it was that it (the Libyan information) as yet another
sign of the danger that North Korea poses and a reminder of the importance of
moving the six-party talks forward," said the American official.
Other officials said last week that scientific tests on the nuclear material
surrendered by Libya have led U.S. intelligence agencies and scientists to
conclude that North Korea sold processed uranium to Tripoli.
The United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia have held three
rounds of talks with North Korea since August 2003 and have been trying to coax
North Korea back to negotiations. Pyongyang has offering varying explanations
for refusing.
At the last session in June, the United States proposed gradual economic aid
and investment for North Korea in exchange for a complete dismantlement of its
nuclear facilities and inspections.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the proposal remained on the
table. "I think all parties are urging North Korea to come back to the talks so
that we can move forward on the proposal that we outlined at that last round of
talks," he said.
A Russian news agency quoted a North Korean diplomat as saying on Monday that
Pyongyang had not decided if it will resume talks because U.S. policy toward it
remained unclear and that Bush "did not clearly specify Washington's position"
in his Feb. 2 State of the Union speech.
In his only direct reference to North Korea in that speech, Bush said: "We
are working with governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its
nuclear ambitions." He has emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution.
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