Christopher R. Hill, the chief American official in charge of the talks, was also cautious. Emerging from congressional testimony about China and North Korea, he told reporters that the North Koreans had said in New York that they were "committed" to the negotiations. But he also cautioned, "our concern now is to get a date," adding: "We need to be careful how we characterize" the North Korean statements at the New York meeting
North Korea Returning to Nuclear Talks, U.S. Says
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: June 7, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 7 - The United States and China said today that North Korea has committed itself to eventually returning to multinational negotiations over its nuclear program, but officials said the North had set no date. That left both American and Asian officials wondering whether Pyongyang was simply attempting to defuse talk of going to the United Nations for sanctions.
The North Korean statements, after a yearlong suspension in the six-nation talks, came in a meeting Monday in New York between the North's representatives to the United Nations and two American diplomats, Joseph DeTrani and Jim Foster. But after a day of conflicting signals in Washington about what the North Koreans actually said, and an optimistic prediction by China's representative to the United Nations that talks would resume "in the next couple of weeks," both American and Asian officials expressed caution.
They noted that President Bush is just days away from a meeting on Friday with South Korea's president, Roh Moo Hyun, where Mr. Bush is expected to raise the subject of how long the United States and its allies should continue with a diplomatic process that so far has yielded no results. Mr. Roh has opposed any move toward sanctions that would cut off trade with the North, and he has counseled deeper engagement with Pyongyang. Even the ambiguous prospect of a return to talks, officials note, could bolster his case in the lunch with Mr. Bush.
One Asian official deeply involved in the process was skeptical about whether real progress had been made in New York, saying that the North Korean statement "may be designed to keep us hanging in the air."
The chief American official in charge of the talks, Christopher R. Hill, was also cautious. Emerging from congressional testimony about China and North Korea, he told reporters that the North Koreans had said in New York that they were "committed" to the negotiations. But he also cautioned, "our concern now is to get a date," adding: "We need to be careful how we characterize" the North Korean statements at the New York meeting.
Inside the Bush administration, the question of how long to pursue the talks - which also involve Russia, China, Japan and South Korea - has been a source of continuous debate. Some officials, both in the Pentagon and the White House, have argued that the time has come to move to sanctions, noting that the previous negotiations resulted in nothing, and that no talks have been held since the United States put a modest offer on the table to the North a year ago.
But when a senior Defense Department official traveling with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested over the weekend that a decision to move to sanctions might be only weeks away, he was quickly corrected by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told reporters there were no deadlines and little likelihood a decision would come that quickly. Mr. Rumsfeld, half a world away, quickly told reporters the same thing.
But here in Washington, teams in several agencies have been drawing up plans for potential sanctions, including what could amount to a quarantine of the country, involving searching ships and aircraft for illicit shipments of missiles, drugs and counterfeit cash. But those tactics would likely be doomed to failure unless the United States won the cooperation of China, the North's largest trading partner and its main source of food and fuel. So far, the Chinese have shown no interest in making that threat.
Instead, Beijing has urged patience and optimism. "I think it will be pretty soon, in the next few weeks," Wang Guanya, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, said about the prospect of new talks. "It is already one year. It has been postponed for too long. All agree that the six-party talks is the best way for settling the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula."
Asked about suggestions that the matter be brought to the Security Council, he said, "For China, to bring this issue to the Security Council at this stage would be premature."
Mr. Hill, who is the new assistant secretary of state for Asian and Pacific Affairs, expressed frustration today that more pressure had not been brought to bear on North Korea. "We have asked China to do more" to convince North Korea to return to the talks, he told the Senate Foreign Relations committee. "North Korea depends on China every single day for fuel and food. We expect more. China needs to use its leverage," he said, noting at one point that "clearly China has been reluctant to use economic sanctions."
Mr. Hill, a veteran negotiator, is reported by his State Department colleagues to be arguing internally that the administration should be clearer to the North about what it would gain by giving up the weapons it claims to hold. But he gave no hint of that today, telling the committee, "sometimes Americans are known for our impatience. But I think one year is a long time."
Through more than hour of testimony, Mr. Hill made no mention of the North Korean statements in Monday's meeting in New York.
Warren Hoge contributed reporting from the United Nations for this article and Joel Brinkley contributed from Washington.
