[abishiots]

Good intentions, but Mr Park has become another pawn (and complication) in the larger problem of negotiating a true end to the Korean War.


JANUARY 4, 2010

North Korea Airs Interest In Peace Talks

By EVAN RAMSTAD

North Korea underlined its desire for a peace treaty with the U.S. and South Korea before giving up nuclear weapons in a New Year's message that is awaited by analysts annually because it is one of the rare statements of direction from its authoritarian government.

The statement broke little new ground in the long-running dispute between the North and countries, led by the U.S., that have tried to persuade it to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In an editorial run in several state-run newspapers and broadcasts, the government said it wanted to "establish a lasting peace system on the Korean peninsula and make it nuclear-free through dialogue and negotiations."

The sequence is considered important because the U.S. wants North Korea to stop building nuclear weapons before it will agree to a peace treaty that would formally end the Korean War.

North Korea's annual message often sends a signal about economic priorities and has less often been used to discuss the nuclear-weapons dispute. Last month, the U.S. envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, traveled to Pyongyang to gauge its willingness to return to aid-for-disarmament talks with the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. North Korean diplomats acknowledged the need for talks but gave no commitment to the so-called six-party process.

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