VOA常速英语:Davies On Six-Party Talks

“The purpose of the Six-Party process is to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which in effect means that North Korea needs to move forward to denuclearize, not go in the other direction, which is what they’ve been doing,” Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies said to members of the press when arriving in Seoul, South Korea, on the first stop of a three-nation visit to North Asia that also included Beijing and Tokyo.

“The obstacle to resuming Six-Party Talks remains . . . that North Korea continues to assert its nuclear weapons status,” Ambassador Davies said. “The [North Koreans] declared the Six-Party process dead, and they said that they . . . would never negotiate on the subject of their nuclear weapons capability. I think the issue should be, ‘What should North Korea be doing to re-establish a basis where Six-Party Talks could meaningfully take place?’”

The United States and the Republic of Korea called on North Korea to meets its commitments and international obligations, including to irreversibly denuclearize. The United States is open to resolving the issue through dialogue, but the dialogue must be meaningful in order to move toward denuclearization.

The United States remains committed to authentic and credible talks on denuclearization to implement the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks to bring North Korea into compliance with applicable U.N. Security Council resolutions through irreversible steps leading to denuclearization. But the onus remains on North Korea to first take meaningful steps to show it is serious about denuclearization.

“We simply do not see the positive attitude of North Korea toward fulfilling its obligations, its commitments, to living up to United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Ambassador Davies said. “We need to see some sign that they are sincere about what is the central issue of the Six-Party process, which is the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

“We’re calling for North Korea to take concrete action,” Ambassador Davies said in conclusion. “I do not think it is yet time . . . for . . . the Six-Party process . . . But let’s hope that someday soon that consensus is achieved and we are able to go forward.”