WASHINGTON (AFP)--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. and its negotiating partners may have to "show some patience" before nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea can resume.
Clinton, speaking at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said both the U.S. and Russia want to try to get the North Koreans back to the six-party negotiating framework.
"We may have to show some patience before that is achieved, but we agree on the goal that we are aiming for," Clinton said.
The U.S. has been involved in negotiations with the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia aimed at scrapping North Korea's nuclear program in exchange for aid under a landmark six-party agreement signed in 2007.
The negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify disarmament before taking a sharp turn for the worse with North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket April 5.
The North last week threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and ballistic missile tests unless the United Nations Security Council apologized for condemning and punishing its rocket launch.
Pyongyang said it put a peaceful satellite into orbit but the U.S., South Korea and Japan said it staged a disguised missile test.
When a Russian reporter asked if she was prepared to visit Pyongyang in a bid to find a way out of the deadlock, Clinton replied: "No, I have no plans of going to North Korea."
Stephen Bosworth, the special envoy for North Korea policy, was in Beijing Thursday at the start of a tour of Asia and Russia aimed at convincing the reclusive Communist state to resume nuclear disarmament talks.
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Publié le 08 Mai 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones