Seoul sees N.Korea nuclear talks this month

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea expects talks on ending NorthKorea’s nuclear weapons programs to resume this month and onWednesday called on Pyongyang to set a firm date to return tothe table.

Diplomatic hopes were raised after North Korean leader KimJong-il told a South Korean envoy last month Pyongyang couldrejoin the six-party talks in July if the United States metcertain conditions, such as showing respect.

“A lot of effort has been made to create favorableconditions for the North’s participation in the six-partytalks. We believe North Korea knows that, and we expect theresumption of the talks in July,” Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moontold reporters.

He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s trip to EastAsia, which is scheduled to start on Friday, would add momentumto resuming the talks.

North Korea said in February it possessed nuclear weaponsand was boycotting the talks that includes the two Koreas,China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

A series of contacts by Seoul and Washington withPyongyang’s envoys in past weeks have fueled the expectationthat it was now a matter of time before the North announced itsreturn to the talks that have been stalled for a year.

On Monday, Japan’s foreign minister said he did not sharethat optimism.

“In some quarters there is a very optimistic view and theyprobably have their basis for that, but the Japanese governmentis neither extremely optimistic nor extremely pessimistic,”Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told Reuters in aninterview.

Asked how long Japan and other countries were prepared towait, he said: “Soon, we will reach the limits of ourpatience.”

A prominent South Korean analyst on North Korea’s securitystrategy also said it was too optimistic to anticipate a quickresumption of the talks and the North agreeing to a negotiatedsettlement on ending its nuclear programs.

“At every step of the way in the six-party process, theoutlook just hasn’t been all that bright,” said Kim Tae-woo, anexpert on North Korea’s weapons proliferation at the KoreaInstitute of Defense Analyzes, a think tank in Seoul.

“North Korea is always going to want the means to maintainits current regime,” he told a parliamentary hearing onTuesday.