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U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow says his government is prepared to start negotiations with North Korea for a permanent peace framework on the Korean Peninsula before the end of this year. "The U.S. is certainly prepared to begin this process sometime this year," he said in a special lecture for civic organization Peaceful Coexistence at the Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul. Vesrhbow added the prerequisite is that North Korea completely abandons its nuclear ambitions. But he said the countries concerned don’t need to try to accomplish the two goals in order ? denuclearization can be promoted simultaneously on separate tracks.
The envoy expressed hope that the North will report and disable its nuclear program this year, the next stage after shutting them down, as agreed under a Feb. 13 six-nation agreement, leading to complete denuclearization and establishment of the peace framework next year. Turning to a planned summit among the two Koreas, the U.S. and China, and a bilateral U.S. and North Korea summit, Vershbow said they should be held at the end of the triple process of building a peace framework, making the peninsula nuclear-free and normalizing relations between Pyongyang and Washington. Though some in South Korea suggest earlier summits, they are not to be taken seriously, he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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