North Korea Says It Will Resume Talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a South Korean envoy Friday that his country would return to six-nation negotiations over its nuclear weapons program as early as next month if it is treated with “respect” by the United States.

Kim also was said to have professed his ultimate intention to dismantle the nuclear program.

“If the regime’s security is guaranteed, there is no reason to possess a single nuclear weapon,” the South Korean official, Chung Dong Young, quoted Kim Jong Il as telling him during nearly five hours of meetings in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

The meeting marked the first time in more than three years that the reclusive North Korean leader had met with a South Korean official.

Although Kim’s comments were the most direct expression of North Korea’s intent to return to the six-nation talks, which have been stalled for almost a year, U.S. officials and others greeted the remarks with caution. Lower-level North Korean officials have said repeatedly in recent weeks that the nation would return to the bargaining table, but they have declined to set a date.

In Kim’s rare meetings with foreign dignitaries, he often makes grand, conciliatory statements that are not followed by action.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the “real issue” was not just getting North Korea back to the talks, but also getting its communist regime to seriously discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.

“Until we have a date, we don’t have a date,” he said. “The real issue for us is getting back to the talks, but more than that, engaging seriously and substantively on our proposal and on discussions to end ... North Korea’s nuclear program and address the threat that faces the Korean peninsula.”

Nearly a year has elapsed since the last round of talks was held in Beijing. The negotiations have been stalled by North Korea’s refusal to attend, and the other five parties have disagreed over whether to use threats or incentives to try to get Pyongyang back to the table.

Some Bush administration officials have suggested that the U.S. regards the one-year anniversary as a deadline for reviving the negotiations. Should that fail to occur, Washington might try to take up the matter with the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions or take other punitive action.

In Friday’s meetings, Kim repeated North Korea’s assertion of recent months that the Bush administration was to blame for the near-collapse of the diplomatic process because of its hostile attitude.

“The United States treated us with contempt. If it respects us as a partner, we will return to the talks, as early as July,” Chung, the South’s envoy, said he was told by the North Korean leader. But Kim also said that more communication with the United States would be needed before multinational talks could resume.

In recent months, President Bush referred to Kim Jong Il as a “tyrant” and a “dangerous person.” Pyongyang responded by calling Bush a “war maniac” and “Hitler Jr.” But at the end of May, Bush referred to the North Korean leader as “Mr. Kim Jong Il,” an apparent change in tone welcomed by the North Koreans.

Chung, who as unification minister is Seoul’s point man for relations with North Korea, was carrying a message from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urging that the North return to talks. Roh met in Washington last week with President Bush.

“South Korea is trying to prevent what looks like an imminent collision between the United States and North Korea by opening a channel of communications,” said Paik Hak Soon, a North Korea specialist at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.

Friday’s meeting took place at the end of a week of celebrations in Pyongyang marking the anniversary of the summit between Kim Jong Il and former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung. The summit on June 15, 2000, was the first between leaders of the two countries. It raised hopes for a new era of openness and conciliation on the Korean peninsula, and afterward North Korea’s leader held several meetings with South Korean envoys.

But those contacts came to an end in 2002 as relations deteriorated between North Korea and the United States. In October that year, Washington accused Pyongyang of cheating on a pact not to pursue nuclear weapons technology.

Within months, North Korea evicted U.N. nuclear monitors from the country and declared it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The Bush administration sought to resolve the tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons by setting up the negotiations, which include the U.S. and North Korea as well as China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. Several rounds of talks in Beijing, however, have produced no results.

In February, Pyongyang declared that it possessed nuclear weapons, though it has yet to conduct a nuclear test.

It was unclear Friday whether Kim had discussed with Chung any details of the security guarantee he would require before giving up his nuclear arsenal.

Kim previously has demanded a formal nonaggression treaty with the U.S., which Washington has rejected. However, top administration officials have said recently that Washington respected North Korea’s sovereignty and had no plans to attack North Korea. Bush said two years ago that if Pyongyang gave up its arsenal, his administration would consider giving the North written assurances that the U.S. would not attack the nation.

“The United States has been very clear that ... based on actions by North Korea to end its nuclear programs, we are prepared to offer security guarantees in coordination and in conjunction with the other parties in the six-party process,” Ereli said Friday. “That is long-standing and well-known policy by the United States.”

Kim reportedly told Chung that dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program would be in keeping with the “last wishes” of his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994. A few years before his death, the North and South signed a declaration affirming their intent to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons.

The impoverished North has been pushing for better ties with the South while seeking donations of fertilizer and rice from its wealthier neighbor.