 | |
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill answers questions from reporters before meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Monday, the same day official talks between the two Koreas resumed.
|
 |
|
A weary U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill on Monday declined to guess if newly resumed inter-Korean talks were a "good signal." ¡°I am tired of looking at signals and reading the tea leaves,¡± Washington¡¯s point man at six-party North Korean nuclear disarmament talks told reporters.
Hill met with Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon to discuss intra-Korean dialogue and plans to resolve the North Korean nuclear dispute.
Hill reportedly told Ban the U.S. was working for the success of the six-party talks, but warned it could still consider "other means" of resolving the dispute. By ¡°other means¡± Washington has appeared to mean dragging North Korea before the UN Security Council ? not an expression likely to endear Hill to South Korean officials hoping for the most from the inter-Korean talks.
Hill reportedly had qualified sympathy for Seoul¡¯s desire to provide fertilizer aid to the North despite growing nuclear tensions, saying ¡°appropriate distribution where it is needed out of humanitarian concern¡± was acceptable. The choice of words upset some in the Foreign Ministry, who would have preferred a more wholehearted endorsement. That Hill¡¯s visit to Korea coincided with the resumption of North-South talks also gave rise to speculation that Washington is unhappy with a thaw in inter-Korean ties at a time it believes pressure on Pyongyang should intensify.
But publicly Hill on Monday only said the U.S. supported inter-Korean dialogue and hoped for progress. He also expressed hope the talks would have a positive influence on the six-party talks.
If other emotions were at work, they were kept well under wraps.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
