North Korea Indicates Possible Support for Multilateral Talks

North Korean officials, who had opposed earlier proposals for multi-party talks that excluded Russia, made the offer in Moscow.

“On behalf of his leadership, the ambassador said that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea favors holding six-sided talks with Russia’s participation on settling the current difficult situation on the Korean peninsula and is undertaking active efforts for them to take place,” North Korea’s ambassador, Pak Ui-chun, said in a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

U.S. officials responded cautiously to the news of North Korea’s proposal, according to news reports.

“We hope that North Korea is willing to agree to multilateral talks,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. “We’ve been in close contact with our friends and allies and we’ll see where this takes us. We’ll see whether this moves us forward.”

President Bush discussed the possible multilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday.

“We’re quite encouraged that the North Koreans are accepting the president’s proposal for multilateral talks… I’d say the news that’s out of Moscow is all consistent with the conversation that (Chinese) President Hu and President Bush had yesterday,” State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday.

North Korea had previously demanded one-on-one talks with the United States, but White House officials had said they would only agree to multilateral talks.

In April, U.S., North Korean and Chinese officials participated in three-way talks in Beijing during which North Korea told the United States it possessed nuclear weapons and planned to produce more.

Before the North Korean statement was released, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, the department’s lead weapons control official, criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Bolton, in a harshly worded address delivered in Seoul, South Korea, accused Kim of living like royalty while thousands languished in a “hellish nightmare,” jailed or starving in North Korea, Reuters reported.

Bolton also warned Kim’s government not to use the threat of nuclear weapons development as a negotiating tool.

“The days of blackmail are over,” he said. “Kim Jong Il is dead wrong to think that developing nuclear weapons will improve his security.”

When asked about the effect his comments may have on nuclear talks, Bolton added, “It is important to tell the truth, and I think that being able to state clearly the concerns we have about the regime in North Korea is important internationally in explaining why we are concerned both about its own support for terrorism and its pursuit of weapons for mass destruction.”