Rice insists new N.Korea talks show progress

By Carol Giacomo and Jack Kim

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States and Japan
insisted on Sunday that six-party talks on reclusive North
Korea’s nuclear weapons program show progress this time round,
with a hopeful South Korea saying it expected results.

North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, said it agreed to return to the talks after
“the U.S. side clarified its official stand to recognize the
DPRK as a sovereign state, not to invade it and hold bilateral
talks within the framework of the six-party talks.”

But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meeting Chinese
leaders in Beijing, said sitting down to talks after a break of
more than a year was just a first step.

“The real issue now is to make progress,” she said.

She told Fox Television News in an interview that Pyongyang
had a “high bar” to pass when the talks resume in the week of
July 25 and the United States and its partners “shouldn’t spend
too much time celebrating” because there was much hard work
ahead.

It is most likely the talks will be held in Beijing, where
the first three rounds of talks were staged.

Reviving the talks has become more urgent because of
concerns North Korea has expanded its nuclear capabilities to
eight or more weapons, up from one or two weapons when
President Bush came to office.

Rice told a news conference she did not know if China or
South Korea had offered any special new inducements to lure
Pyongyang back to talks which will involve the two Koreas,
China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

U.S. officials have insisted they did not offer any new
incentives but China, in particular, has played a key role in
providing the impoverished North with additional food and
energy assistance. Seoul said on Sunday North Korea had asked
for 500,000 tons of rice from the South at separate economic
talks.

North Korea’s official news agency quoted a foreign
ministry spokesman as saying Pyongyang would do its utmost to
make progress.

“They believed that if they didn’t come back to the table
soon, actions would be taken,” said Derek Mitchell, a Korea
expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
think tank in Washington.

“OUTPOST OF TYRANNY”

North Korea said in a statement issued on Saturday night
that it interpreted recent U.S. statements as a retraction of
Rice’s description of the North as an “outpost of tyranny.”
Pyongyang cited the comment as evidence of America’s hostile
policy and cited it as a reason for not returning to the talks
earlier.

Rice suggested she had not retracted the comment, telling
reporters: “Everyone knows our views of the North Korean
regime.”

Bush once referred to North Korea as being part of an “axis
of evil” along with Iran and pre-war Iraq.

But Rice repeated U.S. assurances that the United States
sees the North as a sovereign state that Washington has no
intention of invading.

Asked if the United States would establish diplomatic
relations with Pyongyang, Rice was vague. “The issue now is for
North Korea to make the strategic decision to give up its
nuclear weapons programs,” she told the news conference.

“Let’s do that and we will see what else comes. But the
nuclear program has to be dealt with.”

Rice met Chinese President Hu Jintao, Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing, Premier Wen Jiabao and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan.

Li said he was pleased “with concerted efforts” by all
sides. “Let us continue to work together to try and achieve our
shared goal, that is, a Korean peninsula that’s free of nuclear
weapons.”

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima
said progress must be made after three rounds of inconclusive
talks.

“Resumption is not the aim of the six-party talks,” he said
in a statement. “What is vital is to make substantial progress.
From that perspective, we hope that North Korea would show a
sincere and constructive attitude toward resolving the issues.”

South Korea was more optimistic.

“When the talks are held, the countries participating in
the six-party talks should make substantive progress for the
resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem through serious
and concerted negotiations,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by George Nishiyama in Tokyo)