NK leader heads into China from Russia
By Kim Young-jin
North Korea said Thursday it agreed with Russia on the need to quickly resume six-party denuclearization talks after its mercurial leader appeared to be headed out of the neighboring country through China.
After a summit with Dmitry Medvedev outside the Siberian city of Ulan Ude the previous day, Kim’s special train was seen at a Chinese station on the border with Russia.
Whether he would take a route through Mongolia back to Pyongyang or stop for meetings with officials remained unclear.
Earlier, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency made its first comment on the summit.
"At the talks they shared the view that the six-party talks should be resumed without any preconditions at an early date," it said in a dispatch from Pyongyang.
It did not mention a promise by Kim to impose a moratorium on its testing of weapons of mass destruction if stalled denuclearization talks resume, as reported by Western and Russian press.
The North’s reported offer as well as its call for the early resumption of talks, had so far received tepid responses from Seoul and Washington. Officials said Kim needs to take clearer steps than the moratorium to prove his intent to denuclearize.
"If in fact they are now willing to refrain from nuclear tests and missile launches, this would be welcome, but it would be insufficient," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The North’s media added that Kim had invited Medvedev for a reciprocal visit.
In a sign that consultations are still ongoing over the possible resumption of the forum, Wi Sung-lac, Seoul’s nuclear envoy, headed to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart where Kim’s offer was likely to be discussed.
Seoul wants Pyongyang to halt all its nuclear activities and allow U.N. inspectors to verify the suspension before resuming the stalled talks, which halted in 2009 after the North stormed out in response to international sanctions.
Hopes over the resumption of the denuclearization-for-aid forum have been high since the two Koreas held rare bilateral talks in Bali last month, in a surprise move that eased tensions.
Pessimism over the offer is likely driven by Pyongyang’s tactic of offering concessions in a bid to extract aid, then blocking progress and raising tensions with provocative acts.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Kremlin was quoted as saying Kim was “ready to resolve the question of imposing a moratorium on tests and production of nuclear missile weapons if talks resume.”
It was an eventful trip for the 69-year-old leader, who toured sites related to energy and offered his support for Moscow’s plan to build a pipeline through the Korean Peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to the South.