North Korea says it will go back to talks

North Korea agreed Tuesday to return to negotiations aimed at halting its nuclear weapons program, three weeks after the regime conducted its first nuclear test.

The decision by Pyongyang to return to six-party talks puts the international community in something of a bind.

On the one hand, Washington, Beijing, Tokyo and other negotiating partners get what they want: a North Korean regime back at the table talking with the outside world rather than posturing and threatening from its isolated corner.

On the other hand, the move threatens to widen the differences among other partners in the talks, made up of the U.S., China, Japan, the two Koreas and Russia, which in the immediate wake of the Oct. 9 test were relatively unified.

China and South Korea will be more tempted to oppose further sanctions at the U.N. Security Council against their recalcitrant neighbor.

They fear that pushing the regime too far could create an expensive and destabilizing refugee crisis on their shared borders.

After North Korea’s announcement that it had tested a nuclear device underground, the Security Council imposed sanctions last month that restricted trade with North Korea in missile technology and luxury goods.

Washington and Tokyo believe it is important to keep the pressure on Pyongyang, not only to punish its provocative action but to deter other nations that are seeking nuclear power, especially Iran.

North Korea’s change of heart on returning to talks came after a day of informal meetings organized by China that included direct talks between the United States and North Korea.

The North set no conditions for its return to the bargaining table, and sessions are expected to begin next month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said at a hastily arranged news conference.

The talks will take as their starting point the September 2005 joint statement agreed upon by the negotiating parties shortly before Pyongyang walked out of the talks. A key goal in the statement is the eventual denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

North Korea on Tuesday dropped its demand that the U.S. end financial sanctions linked to counterfeiting, money laundering and weapons proliferation before the isolated Stalinist state would return to the bargaining table. Instead, the U.S. financial squeeze, which involves $24 million in a Macao bank, will be considered as a side issue within the six-party framework.

“We need [North Korea] to get out of illicit activities,” Hill said. “We didn’t start this dance.”

But the lack of clarity surrounding North Korea’s sudden return to the table after its show of defiance and 13 months of boycotting the talks raises more concerns, including what Beijing may have offered Pyongyang and whether North Korea is merely trying to buy time.

With a nuclear test under its belt, North Korea also returns in a position of greater strength, leading analysts to ask whether Pyongyang will really pick up the talks where it left them last year or take a tougher stance reflecting its membership in the nuclear club.

The six-nation talks “can be endlessly gamed by the North Koreans,” said Derek Mitchell, an Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “We’ll see if they’re serious once they get there.”

In Washington, President Bush expressed pleasure that the talks would resume and praised the six-party format. In the run-up to next week’s midterm U.S. elections, the news could be used to counter criticism by Democrats of his refusal to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang.

“I’ve always felt like it is important for the United States to be at the table with other partners when it comes time to addressing this important issue, and so I thank not only the Chinese but the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Russians for agreeing to come back to the table with North Korea,” Bush said in televised comments.

China was characteristically mum on what promises or threats it may have employed, part of a long-standing preference for negotiating behind the scenes.

China has more leverage than anyone else given that it supplies most of the North’s energy and much of its food.

A Chinese customs report issued Monday showed Beijing sharply reduced diesel and heating oil shipments to North Korea in September, although gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel shipments rose.

It’s also been charging the impoverished nation more for the fuel.

China’s recent tough stance and obvious displeasure ultimately were not lost on the North, analysts said.

“China greatly reduced food and oil to North Korea,” said Xia Liping, a North Korea expert with the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. “Oil in particular is very important for North Korea.”

Beijing has a keen interest in resumption of six-party talks. The North’s nuclear test, though of a low yield, upset regional stability and at least temporarily discredited the talks as an institution.

Beijing also sees the format as a way to burnish its global credentials and remain on Washington’s good side.

Russia quickly welcomed the North’s decision to return to the bargaining table.

“We unambiguously assess the informal meeting itself and the statement on resuming the six-sided negotiations as soon as possible as exceedingly positive,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev told the Russian news agency Interfax. “The six-sided talks have been given a chance.”

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mark.magnier@latimes.com

Times staff writer David Holley in Moscow and Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.