U.S. Negotiator Invited to Pyongyang

North Korea asked for a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill—the American chief negotiator of the six-party talks for peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue—in the form of a statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson on June 1.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the day that the foreign ministry spokesperson said in the statement, “If the U.S. has made the political determination of implementing the joint statement of the six-party talks, we invite the [U.S.] chief negotiator again so that he could visit Pyongyang and explain to us in person.”

The spokesperson emphasized the necessity of a bilateral meeting between North Korea and the U.S. by saying, “The U.S. is only adding more confusion to the problem-solving process by delivering its intention via the third party, instead of sitting face-to-face and discussing things with us, the party involved in the issue.”

The spokesperson went on to call for cancellation of the freeze on the North Korean funds of $24 million currently bound in a Macao-based bank, the Banco Delta Asia (BDA).

Assistant State Secretary Hill had pushed for a visit to the North in October 2005 after agreeing on the joint statement in the six-party talks in September that year with the principles of “North Korea’s scrapping its nuclear program first and discussing provision of light-water reactors later.”

At that time, however, the U.S. demanded North Korea suspend the operation of its 5.0MW nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, which the North rejected. Hill’s visit to North Korea was cancelled against this backdrop.

The Korean government believes the possibility of Hill’s actually visiting the North will be low.

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com