N. Korea Suggests Peace Talks Tied to Food Aid, Sanctions

North Korea signaled Thursday that it was seeking U.S. diplomatic recognition, large-scale food aid and an easing of trade sanctions before joining four-way peace talks.

The conditions were hinted at by North Korea’s top negotiator on the peace talks issue in comments carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted an official in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, as saying that, until these conditions were met, the North would oppose participation by China in the talks.

Four-way peace talks among the two Koreas, the United States and China were proposed a year ago by President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young Sam.

The goal is to produce a permanent treaty to replace the fraying truce that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

“It is our stand to hold ‘four-way talks’ for peace and security of the Korean peninsula,” North Korean official Kim Gye Gwan said.

But he urged the United States to adopt more confidence-building measures, an apparent reference to famine-stricken North Korea’s demands for substantial food aid and an end to sweeping U.S. economic sanctions.

He also suggested that the North’s lack of diplomatic relations with Washington was a stumbling block.

“Confidence needed for ‘four-way talks’ has not yet been built between the DPRK [North Korea] and the U.S., and, still worse, our equal footing at the talks has not been guaranteed,” Kim said.

It was North Korea’s first public comment since South Korean representatives returned from New York on Tuesday after negotiations failed to secure a clear-cut answer from Pyongyang on whether it was ready to enter peace talks.

North Korea agreed in principle to join the talks but set conditions. Washington and Seoul insist the that talks should focus on peace, not diplomatic ties or food.

On Thursday, the United States urged Japan to provide food aid to North Korea and said this issue will be raised when Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visits Washington today.

But Washington reaffirmed its rejection of North Korean demands for large-scale food aid, a lifting of trade sanctions and diplomatic recognition as preconditions for entering peace talks.