U.S. awaits N.K. disarmament proof.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Seo Hyun-jin The United States will discuss what benefits it can offer to North Korea only when the North makes a concrete commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, the top U.S. envoy in Seoul said yesterday. "We need to see concrete signs of North Korea's willingness to do that before we will be able to talk in detail about how we might respond," Amb. Thomas Hubbard said in an interview with The Korea Herald. Hubbard was responding to the question of whether the United States is working on a new approach to North Korea's security concerns and whether it plans to bring a new proposal to the second round of six-party talks on the North's nuclear issues. The ambassador did not elaborate on what form the North's commitment should take, merely saying that North Korea should show its commitment through "actions, not just words." The first-round meeting of the six-way talks, which involved the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, took place in Beijing in August. Some government officials and private analysts in Seoul said that they expect the second-round meeting to be held in November in view of the busy diplomatic schedules in the region throughout October. The annual summits of both the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are scheduled for this month.

Hubbard also said the six nations in the region will be unlikely to find time in October to think about holding the six-party talks on North Korea. "Our chief delegates are quite busy with other matters in the short run, but we hope we will be able to pick up on talks as soon as possible," he said.

Meanwhile, North Korea said late Monday that it has no more interest in participating in the six-party talks, accusing Washington of using the multilateral dialogue as a pretext for pressuring it to disarm. The comment is seen as the latest in a series of Northern statements aimed at winning leverage in future negotiations, according to the analysts.

Hubbard said the United States can find ways to put into writing that it has no intention of invading the North and will offer economic assistance only if North Korea takes steps to scrap its development of nuclear weapons.

"We have to focus on that 'if.' North Korea needs to convince us all that it is prepared to give ...