Posted on 07/31/2003 12:45:21 PM PDT by El Conservador
MOSCOW/SEOUL (Reuters) - Russia said a North Korean diplomat proposed a new format Thursday for talks to resolve the impasse on the North's nuclear program, including all six nations with the most at stake in the crisis.
The Russian foreign ministry said North Korea (news - web sites)'s ambassador to Moscow had told it Pyongyang, until now bent on talks with Washington alone, now favored six-sided talks, including Russia, to resolve the nuclear row.
The ministry said envoy Pak Ui-chun made the new offer in a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov Thursday. It did not list the countries but they appeared to be North and South Korea (news - web sites), China, Japan, the United States and Russia.
"On behalf of his leadership, the ambassador said that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea favors holding six-sided talks with Russia's participation on settling the current difficult situation on the Korean peninsula and is undertaking active efforts for them to take place," the statement said.
There was an initial, inconclusive round of three-way talks in Beijing in April at which the North told the United States it had nuclear weapons and was seeking to make more.
A White House spokesman reacted cautiously to the report. "We hope that North Korea is willing to agree to multilateral talks," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We've been in close contact with our friends and allies and we'll see where this takes us. We'll see whether this moves us forward."
"We remain in close contact with the Chinese, the South Koreans, the Japanese, the Russians," McClellan said. "It is important to move forward. ... Our approach is that we want to see multilateral talks."
Also Thursday, in a tough speech likely to provoke a blistering North Korean response, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton called North Korean leader Kim Jong-il a tyrannical dictator who lived like royalty while jailing thousands and keeping many hungry in a "hellish nightmare."
Bolton also said Kim was mistaken if he thought threats to proliferate nuclear weapons would weaken international resolve to halt his atomic ambitions.
'DAYS OF BLACKMAIL ARE OVER'
His comments come at a delicate time. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), whom Bolton advises on arms control, told Reuters in Washington Wednesday there was a "distinct possibility" of talks this year.
"The days of (North Korean) blackmail are over," Bolton said in a speech. "Kim Jong-il is dead wrong to think that developing nuclear weapons will improve his security."
Bolton, widely seen as a hawk on North Korea, painted a stark picture of life for North Koreans with Kim at the helm.
He mentioned Kim's name some 40 times, and described him as one of the world's "tyrannical rogue state leaders" who needed to introduce sweeping reforms or face economic ruin.
"While he lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty, scrounging the ground for food," he told the East Asia Institute.
"For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare."
North Korea has hitherto called for direct talks with Washington, a line Bolton called a "one-note piano concerto." He said it would be highly irresponsible for Washington to hold one-to-one talks. If confirmed, however, Ambassador Pak's comments would suggest Pyongyang had now dropped that demand.
Bolton said other tracks should be pursued, including the U.N. Security Council taking "appropriate and timely action."
"Unfortunately, the council is not playing the part it should," he said. "To date, virtually nothing has happened."
Bolton, who visited China before Seoul and travels next to Tokyo, said 11 countries in the "Proliferation Security Initiative" would continue efforts to try to thwart weapons illicit exports.
"Kim Jong-il would be wise to consider diversifying his export base to something besides weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," Bolton said.
Separately, a U.S. combat team equipped with state-of-the-art fighting vehicles arrived in South Korea on Thursday for training. The North's KCNA news agency said it was "a scout party to ignite another war of aggression."
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