US envoy says 'real dialogue' needed with N. Korea

Bangkok, Dec 15 (AFP) The top US envoy for North Koreasaid today that "real dialogue" is needed to gauge whatPyongyang wants from its accelerated d...

Bangkok, Dec 15 (AFP) The top US envoy for North Koreasaid today that "real dialogue" is needed to gauge whatPyongyang wants from its accelerated drive towards nuclearweapons statehood.

Joseph Yun's comments came after US Secretary of StateRex Tillerson created a stir by appearing to open a door todirect talks with the North without preconditions -- a majorpolicy 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, the US SpecialRepresentative on North Korea policy, said of the reclusiveregime.

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

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

Yun is in Bangkok as part of a December 11-15 trip thatalso included a stop in Japan, as Washington seeks to shore upregional support for its "maximum pressure" campaign inresponse to Pyongyang's increasingly powerful nuclear andballistic missile tests.

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

But the top diplomat appeared to soften his stanceearlier this week, saying Washington was ready to negotiatewith the North without preconditions, following a "period ofcalm".

When asked whether Pyongyang would need to meet anyspecific or even minimum prerequisites before a dialogue couldbegin, Yun said: "My boss's statement... addresses that. Ithink we have to start, and he mentioned we are open todialogue, and let's see how they respond."China -- the North's sole ally and economic lifeline --and Russia responded positively to Tillerson's remarks, evenafter the White House appeared to undermine his proposal bysaying US President Donald Trump's "views on North Korea havenot changed".

During his first year in office Trump has repeatedlylobbed threats at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, using fieryrhetoric that clashes with Tillerson's diplomatic approach.

In October the American president dismissed his Secretaryof State's push for talks with the North.

He tweeted that Tillerson was "wasting his time trying tonegotiate with Little Rocket Man" -- his favoured epithet forKim. (AFP)KIS.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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