SEOUL: A senior UN envoy pressed ahead Wednesday with international efforts to get the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) back into nuclear disarmament talks, during the world body's first high-level visit to the country in nearly six years.
UN political chief B. Lynn Pascoe was greeted Tuesday by DPRK's officials at an airport on the outskirts of the capital Pyongyang, according to footage broadcast by APTN in Pyongyang. Also Tuesday, DPRK's top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Gwan, flew to Beijing to discuss nuclear talks with Chinese officials.
The flurry of diplomacy heightened speculation that there could be a breakthrough to jump-start the stalled talks to rid Pyongyang of its nuclear programs.
"This is a sign that the resumption of the six-party talks is imminent," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of DPRK Studies in Seoul. "Kim Kye Gwan is expected to tell Chinese officials about DPRK's disarmament plan in a more concrete manner" - probably in return for aid from Beijing, he said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday that the United States supported talks between the DPRK and China and hoped that the contact would lead to a resumption of the nuclear disarmament talks.
He said the DPRK seemed to be saying the right things recently but added: "The right words must be followed by action. Words by themselves are not sufficient."
Pascoe, the UN envoy, said the aim of his visit was to find "ways we can cooperate better," according to the footage. "So it should be quite useful we hope."
Pascoe's trip was the first there by a high-level UN official since 2004, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry. The envoy is reportedly bearing a letter from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The four-day visit came a day after DPRK's leader Kim assured visiting top Chinese Communist Party official Wang Jiarui that Pyongyang is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The DPRK walked away from the talks last year during a standoff over its nuclear and missile programs. The disarmament process includes the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Pyongyang, however, has been reaching out to Washington, Seoul and Beijing in recent months, and has taken tentative steps toward discussing how to get the process going again. Analysts say the about-face shows the country is feeling the pinch from sanctions taken after its May nuclear test.
The DPRK has made clear it wants UN sanctions lifted and a peace treaty with Washington formally ending the 1950-1953 Korean War before it returns to the disarmament talks. Pyongyang cites the US military presence in South Korea as its main reason for building up its nuclear weapons program.
Washington says Pyongyang must come back to the talks first before any discussion about political and economic concessions.
Paik predicted that the DPRK and the US would meet soon for "final coordination" to reopen the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.