S.Korea sees nuclear talks with N.Korea in Feb

By Thomas Atkins

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – South Korean Foreign
Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Friday he saw signs that six-party
talks with North Korea on its nuclear program could resume as
early as next month.

North Korea should drop any preconditions on the resumption
of the talks, Ban said at an annual business and political
gathering sponsored by the World Economic Forum in the Alpine
resort of Davos.

“We have seen some indications that we will have a
resumption of the six-party talks in February,” Ban told
journalists. “North Korea should return to the six-party talks
without any preconditions.”

By rejecting North Korea’s preconditions on resuming the
talks, which have been stalled since November, South Korea
affirms its position alongside the United States in urging
North Korea back to the table.

North Korea has said it would be unthinkable to return to
the talks — held by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States — which are aimed at getting Pyongyang to
drop its nuclear program while Washington imposed what amounted
to “financial sanctions.”

But Ban said the U.S. measures were not sanctions but
simply law enforcement measures that Washington seeks to
protect itself against counterfeiting.

“We have been urging the North Koreans that this is a
separate issue and should be resolved on a separate track,” he
said. “North Korea has used all sorts of excuses. They are very
creative some times.”

The United States has in recent months acted against
several firms and a Macau-based bank suspected of involvement
in counterfeiting, money laundering and drug trafficking by
North Korea.

Pyongyang is believed to earn as much as $1 billion a year
from these activities, which U.S. officials say benefit the
elite at the expense of North Korea’s poor.

Earlier on Friday, North Korea said it would not offer any
concessions to Washington or bow to hardliners, who Pyongyang
feels are trying to pressure it back to the table and topple
its leaders with economic sanctions.

In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Washington was ready to
resume the six-party nuclear talks immediately.

She also called on Pyongyang to address U.S. concerns over
illicit financial dealings such as counterfeiting, but said
this should not be tied to the resumption of the nuclear talks.

Separately, Ban said South Korea would not close its
borders to U.S. beef following the discovery of forbidden
spinal material in veal sent to Japan. South Korea agreed
earlier in January to reopen its borders to U.S. beef in March.