YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) Clinton calls on N. Korea to return to 6-way talks, offers incentives

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday called on North Korea to come back to the six-party talks, offering a set of incentives in return for its denuclearization.

   "We are going to go with a very clear message that there are significant benefits to North Korea if they recommit to the verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Clinton said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio, referring to the upcoming trip to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, early next month.

   U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang, set for Dec. 8, to attempt to lure the reluctant North back to the six-party talks that have been deadlocked over international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.

   State Department officials have said the U.S. point man on North Korea will stay in Pyongyang for one-and-a-half days, leading a delegation of four or five inter-agency officials, including Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks.

   An official, asking anonymity, said the U.S. hopes that the trip will result in resumption of the nuclear talks.

   "There are certainly indications that they will return to the six-party talks. We have been told directly as far as I know," the official said, but added, "I can't say anything definitive on that."

   Clinton said the U.S. "would explore some of the issues which they have raised continually with us over the years; namely, normalization of relations, a peace treaty instead of an armistice, economic development assistance."

   "All of that would be open for discussion," she said. "But the North Koreans have to commit to denuclearization. And we also think it's important to do so within the context of the six-party talks."

   Clinton was discussing benefits pledged under a six-party deal signed in 2005 involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

   In anger over the sanctions, North Korea has said it will permanently boycott the six-party talks, which it said have been used to suppress the North, and demanded that the nuclear issue be solved through bilateral talks with the U.S.

   The visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month touched off a breakthrough, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il expressed his willingness to return to the six-party talks pending the outcome of bilateral talks with the U.S.

   While in Beijing on the third leg of his weeklong four-nation Asian tour, Obama on Tuesday "expressed appreciation for Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Pyongyang, in which he came back with a statement from Kim Jong-il saying that North Korea was prepared to move towards six-party talks under certain conditions."

   The premier of China, the host of the nuclear talks, offered hefty economic aid, including construction of a bridge over the Aprok River linking the two communist allies on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties.

   hdh@yna.co.kr
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