The United States has decided to send Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korean policy, to Pyongyang to pave the way for an early resumption of six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program, a State Department official said Tuesday.
"After careful consideration and extensive consultation among our allies and partners, we have told North Korea that we are prepared for Ambassador Bosworth and a small interagency team to visit Pyongyang at an appropriate time not yet determined," State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters.
Bosworth is expected to meet with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju, according to sources close to the move.
Washington indicated in September that it was willing to seek direct talks with Pyongyang as part of efforts to resume the stalled six- party nuclear disarmament talks after North Korea extended an invitation earlier in the summer for Bosworth to come to Pyongyang.
"The purpose will be to facilitate and early resumption of the six- party talks and to secure North Korea's reaffirmation of the September 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," Crowley said.
North Korea agreed in September 2005 to dismantle its nuclear programs in an aid-for-denuclearization deal struck at the six-party talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
North Korea withdrew from the multilateral talks in April in protest against the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch, which was widely regarded as a long-range missile test. Pyongyang added to the tension by detonating a nuclear device for the second time in May, moves which resulted in increased U.N. sanctions on the reclusive country.
The United States contends that the pressure it has applied via sanctions has caused North Korea to shift to a more conciliatory strategy.
"We have to believe that North Korea has felt some of that pressure," Crowley said. "So you've seen a shift in their strategy, the so-called charm offensive that they have engaged in for the past couple of months."
On Oct. 5, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed readiness to hold multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the outcome of bilateral dialogue with the United States.
Earlier this month, North Korea repeated its call for direct negotiations with Washington, saying that if the two countries end their mutual hostility and forge trust, progress could be made toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
In agreeing to meet with North Korean official bilaterally, the United States says it will encourage North Korea to come back to the six- party talks, but will not give concessions to North Korea for coming back to the talks, which have been stalled since last December.
"We are not going to reward North Korea simply for returning to the six-party talks," Crowley said. "We will be looking to see if they are prepared to take the kinds of affirmative steps that they had previously agreed to."
"We come into this with a clear understanding and a realistic view of what North Korea has done in the past," he said.
While many North Korean experts and analysts believe it is important to engage North Korea diplomatically, they remain skeptical about North Korea's willingness to give up its nuclear arsenal and are pessimistic about Bosworth's trip, saying it will not result in much progress toward achieving the objectives of the United States.
"There is not a lot of optimism that one or more Bosworth trips will lead to a breakthrough," Bruce Klingner, a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation said.
