The United States is expected to respond to North Korea's call for bilateral talks soon amid growing impatience in Pyongyang, which recently made announcements about progress in its nuclear arms program.

North Korea agreed to a U.S. proposal last week to have two formal bilateral meetings before returning to a multilateral forum, according to a U.S. magazine on global affairs, taking a step back from its previous position to return to the six-nation talks only if talks with Washington went well.

U.S. magazine Foreign Policy reported that last week's behind-the-scenes meetings between Sung Kim, the U.S. State Department's special envoy to six-party talks, and Ri Gun, North Korea's deputy nuclear envoy, reaped "substantial progress," with the North agreeing to two of the three conditions presented by the United States.

Citing an official with access to information on the negotiations, FP said that the North also agreed to allow U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth, who has been invited repeatedly to Pyongyang, to meet with its first vice foreign minister Kang Sok-ju.

"Bosworth's visit would be seen as a failure unless some demonstrable progress was made and it is widely believed that only top officials in Kim Jong-il's regime have real negotiating authority," the magazine said.

"By meeting with Kang, Bosworth could leapfrog Ri and his boss, vice minister of foreign affairs Kim Kye-gwan."

The North, however, demurred on the third condition that it abide by its Sept. 19, 2005 declaration, in which it committed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA safeguards," Foreign Policy said.

North Korea insists on the idea of denuclearization not just on its side but across the Korean Peninsula, as referred to in previous U.S.-DPRK joint documents.

The United States is likely to decide soon whether to hold high-level talks in Pyongyang, South Korean chief nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac said yesterday.

"What I heard most recently (about U.S.-North Korea bilateral talks) is that Washington was set to determine its position soon because it has been quite some time since the North made the invitation," Wi said.

North Korea has pressed the United States to quickly respond to its invitation of Bosworth, initially made in early August.

The North said through its state media on Tuesday that it had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods to extract weapons-grade plutonium, a day after threatening to "go its own way" if the United States remained silent.

Wi played down the North's announcement as "it wasn't entirely unexpected considering what it said in September" - that the fuel rods were in the final stage of reprocessing.

"It is too early to judge on the impact (of the North's statement)," he said.

"But it is unlikely to be helpful for the North's bilateral talks with the United States."

Wi is scheduled to travel to Washington today to meet with U.S. officials including Bosworth and Sung Kim.

"I plan to discuss with my usual counterparts in the White House, U.S. State Department and the Pentagon the pending U.S.-North Korea talks, while focusing on preparations for the South Korea-U.S. summit this month," Wi said.

(sophie@heraldm.com)

By Kim So-hyun

2009.11.05