No immediate plan for U.S., N. Korea talks: nuke envoy Saiki

TOKYO, Sept. 7 Kyodo -
Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, told a
senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official Monday that talks between the United
States and North Korea will not be held ''in any form'' unless Pyongyang shows
commitment to the agreement reached at the six-party denuclearization talks,
according to the Japanese official.
Akitaka Saiki, Japan's chief negotiator at the six-party talks, quoted Bosworth
as saying that ''there is no immediate plan at all'' for bilateral dialogue,
and said he and Bosworth agreed that such dialogue should be held under the
six-way talks framework.
Referring to North Korea's recent claim that it is in the final stage of
uranium enrichment, Saiki told reporters after the meeting, ''These are of
course a concern for us...and we will continue to make efforts to stop North
Korea by all means from taking provocative acts toward the international
community.''
Saiki, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs
Bureau, said the United States does not expect a major policy change by Japan
toward North Korea under its incoming administration led by the Democratic
Party of Japan, which defeated the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the
Aug. 30 House of Representatives election.
Bosworth is on the final leg of a three-nation East Asia tour and his visit to
Japan comes at a time when North Korea appears to be frustrated with the U.S.
stance of not engaging in direct bilateral talks with it amid its refusal to
return to the six-party negotiations.
While North Korea recently showed eagerness for dialogue as indicated by the
release of two detained U.S. journalists following a visit to Pyongyang by
former U.S. President Bill Clinton, it also raised regional concerns last week
by claiming that its uranium enrichment experiment had progressed to the final
phase.
Referring to what he calls North Korea's recent diplomatic offensive, Saiki
said that North Korea will ''not be able to win confidence'' as long as it does
not reaffirm its denuclearization commitment under the multilateral
negotiations.
Bosworth arrived in Japan on Sunday and is due to leave Tuesday. He has already
visited China and South Korea.
South Korean media said in late August that North Korea had invited Bosworth to
visit Pyongyang in September, but Bosworth said prior to his departure that he
has no plans to meet with North Korean officials during his trip to East Asia.
According to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea
said in a letter sent Thursday to the U.N. Security Council that its uranium
enrichment experiment had progressed to the final phase and plutonium extracted
from a resumed nuclear facility was being turned into weapons.
North Korea said it will quit the six-party talks with the United States,
China, South Korea, Japan and Russia earlier this year to protest a U.N.
Security Council statement denouncing a rocket launch it conducted, which was
widely seen as a disguised missile test.
On May 25, North Korea staged a second nuclear test and the U.N. Security
Council adopted a resolution aimed at punishing the country.
==Kyodo