Senior diplomats from the United States have been invited to North Korea for talks on the Asian nation's nuclear program, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Aug. 24).
(Aug. 25) -
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special envoy to North Korea, shown in June. Bosworth has reportedly been invited to lead a delegation that would participate in bilateral nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang (Andy Wong/Getty Images).
The Obama administration has not yet conducted nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang. It has stated that any bilateral diplomacy would occur only alongside resumed six-party talks, which stalled in 2008 and appeared to have crumbled completely amid the North's nuclear and missile testing in recent months.
However, the regime lately has shown signs of a willingness to re-engage with Washington. It offered to host talks with Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea, and Sung Kim, the administration's top envoy on the nuclear issue, the JoonAng Ilbo newspaper reported. It said the offer was receiving serious consideration in Washington.
The trip might give the U.S. officials an opportunity to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, according to the newspaper.
There was no response on the report from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 25).
U.S. officials and experts played down North Korea's moves to reduce tensions in the region, Reuters reported.
Pyongyang in recent weeks has released detainees from the United States -- during a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton -- and South Korea. It sent a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and has opened the door for renewed reunions for families split between the neighboring states.
"Clearly we have seen some toning down of rhetoric ... some actions and language that seem conciliatory," said one high-level U.S. official. "What we haven't seen, and what we are still looking for, is any kind of indication that the North Koreans are willing to return to multilateral talks on denuclearization."
Skeptical analysts said the regime is trying to persuade other nations to pull back economic sanctions that are taking a toll on the North. However, Pyongyang has not seriously addressed the nuclear program that has led to the penalties, said Abraham Kim of the Eurasia Group.
"Instead they are trying to focus on atmospherics, to give the sense that things are getting better, but in reality nothing is getting better," he said.
Pyongyang wants to "get the U.S. and South Korean governments to water down their approach toward North Korea, generate differences between the allies and to undermine the effectiveness of international sanctions," said Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation.
The North has been surprised by China's willingness to support the latest sanctions and by a tougher-than-anticipated stand by the Obama administration, observers said.
"They're not collapsing now, they're not going to fold now, but they've taken a look and said, 'This path is not sustainable. We've got to fix it and how can we do this?'" said Charles Pritchard, head of the Korea Economic Institute (Paul Eckert, Reuters I, Aug. 25).
There is little reason to believe that North Korea actually plans to relinquish its nuclear arsenal, experts said. That means it is too early to lift sanctions on the regime, they said (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters II/Washington Post, Aug. 25).