US Envoy Says ’Real Dialogue’ Needed With NKorea

Local Editor

The top US envoy for North Korea Joseph Yun said Friday that "real dialogue" is needed to gauge what Pyongyang wants from its accelerated drive towards nuclear weapons statehood.

His comments came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson created a stir by appearing to open a door to direct talks with the North without preconditions -- a major policy shift that the White House swiftly rowed back on.

"It's very hard to discern what their intent is without, as I said, having a real dialogue," Yun said of the North Korean regime.

"We are open to dialogue. And we hope they will agree to have a dialogue," he told reporters in Bangkok.

It is necessary to exercise both "direct diplomacy as well as sanctions" to rein in the pariah state's nuclear program, he added.

Yun is in Bangkok as part of a December 11-15 trip that also included a stop in Japan, as Washington seeks to shore up regional support for its "maximum pressure" campaign in response to Pyongyang's increasingly powerful nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

Tillerson has driven the global diplomatic effort to stifle the North's economy through a series of UN sanctions.

But he then appeared to soften his stance earlier this week, saying Washington was ready to negotiate with the North without preconditions, following a "period of calm".

When asked whether Pyongyang would need to meet any specific or even minimum prerequisites before a dialogue could begin, Yun said:

"My boss's statement... addresses that. I think we have to start, and he mentioned we are open to dialogue, and let's see how they respond."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team