US says open to North Korea peace treaty discussions

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) The United States is open to discussions with North Korea on a peace treaty at the same time as six-country talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programs, a US official today said.

Commenting on a report in The New York Times, the official said the concurrent efforts had been under way for months. The comments appeared to play down the Times' report that the Bush administration was considering a new approach.

''The United States government seeks to implement the joint statement laid out at the fourth round of the six-party talks in September 2005,'' said the official, who asked not to be identified.

''The joint statement noted a general agreement to discuss a peace regime in an appropriate separate forum,'' the official added.

The Times described the effort as a new approach that President George W Bush is very likely to approve but said the change would only happen if North Korea returned to the talks, which have been stalled for months by its refusal to participate.

''Discussions since September with North Korea have been hindered by the glaring absence of any will on the part of the North Koreans to fulfill the denuclearization pledge made to all five parties to the six-party talks and the world in the September 2005 joint statement,'' the US official, who spoke today, said.

As a result, Pyongyang's refusal to give up its nuclear program makes discussions on a new peace treaty a ''non-starter,'' said Kim Sung-han of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Security in Seoul, which is associated with South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

The last six-party negotiations was an inconclusive session last November.

INSPIRATION FOR IRAN?

In recent interviews with Reuters, two senior US officials were very pessimistic about persuading North Korea to return to the table and said they did not expect any movement until after Bush leaves office, in 2009, at the earliest. The Times noted that a new stance on North Korea would coincide with efforts by the United States and other major powers, so far fruitless, to persuade Iran to drop its planned nuclear program.

Many US officials and experts are concerned that Iran draws inspiration from North Korea, which has suffered few international penalties since declaring that it possesses nuclear weapons and will continue to make nuclear fuel.

Although the United States in recent months launched a crackdown on Pyongyang's income from illicit activities like counterfeiting, China and South Korea have continued and in some instances increased aid and investment to the impoverished country, US officials say.

The Times said that if Bush allows talks about a peace treaty to take place on a parallel track with six-nation talks on disarmament, it would ''signal another major change of tactics.'' The administration had initially insisted Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear programs before receiving any economic or political returns but has softened that position over time.

North Korea has long demanded a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean war and the administration has said previously it would be willing to consider working on such an agreement.

But the question of exactly when this and other benefits might flow to Pyongyang has sharply divided the administration.

Many officials have been hoping the communist government in Pyongyang would collapse but experts say that is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Reuters