Seoul will not have talks with Pyongyang solely as a way of restarting the six-party denuclearization process, but will insist on some proof that North Korea is sincere in shutting down its nuclear weapons program, a high-ranking South Korean government official said yesterday.

The remark came as the drumbeat for resuming the stalled talks with the United States, China, Japan and Russia gets louder. Seoul has demanded direct talks with Pyongyang before it goes back to the six-party process.

In a meeting with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reiterated a joint stance between Seoul and Washington that inter-Korean talks must come before the resumption of the six-party talks. The two ministers stressed that the North demonstrate a real sincerity for denuclearization.

“What is important is whether this (inter-Korean talks) shows the North is willing to resolve the problems earnestly, bring security and peace to the Korean Peninsula and move forward inter-Korean relations,” said a high-profile Seoul official on condition of anonymity.

Last week, China said the six-party talks could be resumed after inter-Korean talks and also a round of talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea walked out of the six-party talks in April 2009.

It is still unclear whether the “sincerity” Seoul hopes to see from the North will include an apology for the deadly attacks against the South last year, including the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. Fifty South Koreans, including two civilians, were killed in the two attacks. The North denies the Cheonan attack.

Some analysts speculate the South will bring up the issue of the attacks at a different time and place, with the inter-Korean talks focused on the denuclearization issue only. Working-level military talks between the two Koreas in February broke down after the South brought up the attacks.

Meanwhile, some analysts think the North could propose inter-Korean talks as early as next month after a scheduled visit to Pyongyang by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter beginning April 26.


By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]