U.S. policy on NK to be based on consultations with Seoul: Powell

The United States has a lot to offer North Korea if it starts acting in a way it views as productive, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. He told reporters in a press conference that the shape of future U.S. contacts with Pyongyang would become clearer after South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung`s meeting with President Bush. He added that U.S. plans would be clarified at an opportune time if North Korea curbs its missile development, erases suspicions that it is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, opens to the outside world and promotes greater transparency.

U.S. policy on North Korea will be based on close cooperation with South Korea and during the summit this week, President Bush will make clear to President Kim that Washington supports him and wants to work with him, Powell said. ``We do plan to engage North Korea and pick up where President Clinton and his administration left off,`` he added. ``Some promising elements were left off on the table and we will be examining those elements.`` He went on to say that negotiations with Pyongyang had yet to begin because Washington believed prior consultations with Seoul were essential.

Meanwhile, Wendy Sherman, North Korea policy coordinator under the Clinton administration, said President Bush should eventually meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to speed up the growth of North Korea-U.S. relations. During a seminar sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), Sherman said a Kim-Bush meeting would be necessary to seal a rapprochement deal, since policies are made at the top level in the North Korean hierarchy. In an article contributed to the New York Times, the former key official in North Korea-U.S. negotiations said the North Korean missile threat should be resolved through dialogue, including disarmament talks, rather than through a national missile defense (NMD) system.

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com