FYI...
MOSCOW (July 5) - Russia has told North Korea's Kim Jong-il it is ready to
bring the two Koreas together for talks to help settle their differences,
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
Lavrov met the reclusive leader in Pyongyang at the weekend after a third round
of six-way negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programs involving the two
Koreas, Russia, the United States, China and Japan.
The talks seek to defuse a standoff that began in October 2002, when U.S.
officials said North Korea had admitted to running secret nuclear weapons
programs in violation of international non-proliferation agreements.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying his talks with Kim had focused on
ways of reaching a peaceful settlement between North and South Korea.
"We considered questions of a three-sided settlement on the Korean peninsula
with the participation of Russia and the two Koreas," Tass quoted him as saying
in a report from Pyongyang.
It was not clear if he was proposing separate three-way talks, with Russia as
mediator, and how this would tie in with broader international efforts. He
later said Moscow backed Pyongyang's call for compensation in exchange for
freezing its nuclear programs as a first stage for negotiations.
At the latest six-way talks in Beijing, North Korea said proposals from
Washington, which offered security guarantees and South Korean aid in return
for a freeze, showed little new.
It has demanded energy assistance equivalent to two million kilowatts of
electricity and a U.S. pledge on non-aggression.
Russia has a small land border with the North and is one of only a handful of
states that has diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea.
Lavrov, who handed Kim a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, made
his comments amid reports of a possible bold diplomatic move by Russia to help
end the crisis.
Some reports have said Moscow is planning to host a summit between the two
Koreas in its far east during a visit by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun,
expected in September.
Others said Putin would meet Kim in the Russian port city of Vladivostok -- a
report flatly denied by Lavrov. "Such a meeting is not planned at all," Tass
quoted him as saying.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said little about Putin's message to Kim, except that
it concerned bilateral cooperation and regional security.
Lavrov said he had assured North Korea it had the right to nuclear-generated
power if it rejoined the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and took part in
activities of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
North Korea expelled all IAEA inspectors 18 months ago and has refused to let
them return. Last year it withdrew from NPT.
07/05/04 08:14 ET
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