North Korea is looking for an extended delay in resuming negotiations over its nuclear weapons program and even told China there was no point in continuing the six-sided talks at all, a senior U.S. official says. The talks, which recessed in late June, had been expected to be resumed by the end of September. Hoping to persuade North Korea to halt its program, the Bush administration was willing to offer written assurance that it had no plans to attack, while Japan and South Korea were expected to lay out economic incentives they would offer. But North Korea has sought one-on-one talks with the United States and has decided to wait until at least after the Nov. 2 presidential elections to start talking again, the U.S. official said Tuesday.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry favors direct talks with North Korea about its nuclear program. President Bush has pursued six-party talks involving North Korea's nearest neighbors — China, South Korea, Japan and Russia — as well as the United States to confront North Korea with the aim of halting its development of nuclear weapons. China already has concluded that negotiations would not resume this month as planned, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Bush administration is inclined to expect a delay until after the election. |