WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States hopes for an early resumption of multilateral nuclear talks with North Korea, but it is more important for the hermetic nation's new leadership to choose a path toward peace and cooperation with the outside world, Seoul's top envoy here said Wednesday.
"What is the most important task at this moment is to send a clear and constant message to North Korea about what it should do to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and the world and lead North Korea's new leadership to join efforts and cooperate to that effect," Amb. Han Duck-soo said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.
The North's strategic decisions are being keenly watched again following the death of its long-time autocrat, Kim Jong-il, in December. The North formally named his third and youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as its new leader.
There is no immediate sign of unrest in the midst of the power transition, but concerns persist over the youth and inexperience of the leader of the unpredictable communist country with nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un, reportedly educated in Switzerland, is known to be in his late 20s.
"A reality is that it is difficult to predict North Korea's external policy," Han pointed out.
He would not be drawn into a question about whether the U.S. will hold another round of high-level bilateral talks with Pyongyang in January, only saying it's up to North Korea.
"There are initial steps that North Korea is required to do by action before moving to the six-party talks," he said, apparently referring to Washington's demand for Pyongyang to improve relations with Seoul and show its seriousness about denuclearization.
The six-way talks, which also involve China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled for three years.
The North's five dialogue partners want to restart the Beijing-based negotiations after Pyongyang implements the initial measures as early as possible through its direct talks with Washington, according to Han.
"(We) expect North Korea to take various actions for the resumption of the six-party talks," he said.
Regarding sanctions on Iran for its uranium enrichment program, the ambassador said, it is inevitable for South Korea to help put more pressure on Teheran.
"Internationally, the Iranian nuclear issue is as important as the North Korean nuclear one," he said. "It is unavoidable to some extent to join the international efforts to toughen sanctions on Iran... despite some pains."
South Korea faces a dilemma over whether to reduce its oil dependency on Iran, which supplies nearly 10 percent of South Korea oil imports.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a bill targeting Iran's central bank, which handles Iran's oil exports. Individuals or entities dealing with the bank will be banned from access to the U.S. financial system.
Seoul will continue seeking some flexibility in the U.S. implementation of the legislation, while reviewing whether it can diversify its supply line, Han said.