US to Talk with NK Only in 6-Party Framework

U.S. special envoy on North Korea Stephen Bosworth said Sunday that Washington will talk with North Korea only within the six-party framework, reiterating the U.S. firm stance over Pyongyang's call for bilateral dialogue.

Bosworth said North Korea's claim to be furthering its uranium enrichment program is "a subject of concern" but added such a statement is nothing new, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"We are prepared to engage bilaterally as well with the North Koreans but only within the context of six-party talks," Bosworth was quoted as saying in Seoul after three-day consultations with South Korean officials.

Just hours before Bosworth's arrival in Seoul on Friday, North Korea renewed its nuclear warning, saying its uranium enrichment program, a second route to building nuclear weapons alongside a plutonium-based one, has entered into "completion phase." The North also said it was weaponizing plutonium obtained from reprocessing spent fuel rods.

"Any indication of the nuclear program on the part of North Korea whether it's HEU (highly enriched uranium) or anything else is a subject of concern, and one which we have to address," Bosworth said.

Despite North Korea's recent conciliatory gestures toward the international community, the U.S. sees no fundamental change in the prolonged stalemate over the North's nuclear drive, Bosworth said. Over a month's period in August, North Korea freed detained American and South Korean citizens, lifted inter-Korean traffic restrictions and restored sagging joint business ventures.

"No, I don't think there's been any fundamental change," Bosworth said.

Bosworth came here on the second leg of his three-nation Asian tour that began in Beijing and will take him to Tokyo later in the day. His primary task is discussing ways to resume the six-party talks and the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 imposed after North Korea's nuclear test in May.

The six-party talks, which were last held in December, involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.