SKorea: Any US-NKorea talks must deal with nukes

By JAE-SOON CHANG (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Wednesday any dialogue with North Korea should be firmly based on the goal of ridding the communist regime of nuclear weapons, as the United States considers Pyongyang's long-held desire for direct talks.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, in charge of ties with Pyongyang, also told the North not to think of winning economic aid or normalizing relations with the United States while holding on to its atomic weapons.

Past nuclear negotiations with North Korea ended up offering concessions to the regime while failing to disarm it. Hyun's comments appeared to reflect Seoul's concern that it could be sidelined if U.S.-North Korea talks dramatically move forward.

"Over the past decade or so, we've seen negotiations with North Korea resuming and stalling numerous times" while the standoff kept deteriorating, Hyun told a security forum. "We should not forget this lesson from the past. ... Dialogue with North Korea should be faithful to the goal of" North Korea's denuclearization.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday direct talks with the North would be worthwhile. They would be the first nuclear negotiations between the two countries since President Barack Obama took office.

"One of the ways we perhaps can get North Korea to engage is by explaining directly and clearly what the purpose is and what the possible consequences and incentives are," Clinton said.

North Korea has long sought one-on-one contact with Washington in hopes of raising its international profile, but U.S. officials have made clear that any such talks would have to be within the context of efforts to resume six-nation disarmament negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.

North Korea pulled out of the six-party talks

Pyongyang withdrew from those negotiations in April, to protest international criticism of a rocket launch that other nations suspected was a test of long-range missile technology. It then conducted a nuclear test in May, drawing tough new U.N. sanctions on its weapons exports and financial dealings.

But the regime has recently tried to reach out to Seoul and Washington. It has freed detained American and South Korean citizens, pledged to resume suspended joint projects with South Korea, and also proposed talks with the U.S.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has taken a hard line in dealing with North Korea since he took office last year, said Tuesday that the North is making these conciliatory gestures because it feels the pain of U.N. sanctions. Lee also said that Pyongyang has shown no sign of giving up nuclear weapons.

On Wednesday, Hyun echoed Lee's remarks, saying the North is "not showing any fundamental change" in its position.

"The government hopes North Korea will normalize relations with the U.S. and Japan and seek economic cooperation," Hyun told the forum. "But the North cannot achieve them without giving up nuclear weapons."

Also Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to raise the monthly wages of some 40,000 North Korean workers employed by South Korean firms operating at a joint complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.

The two sides increased the minimum monthly salary by five percent to $57, said Lee.

The industrial complex, which combines South Korean capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor, is the most prominent symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. Link...