NKorea shows no signs of returning to talks

AFP, Seoul

North Korea shows no signs yet of willingness to return to talks on its nuclear programme, a senior US envoy said Monday as he pushed a two-track strategy of tougher sanctions and offers of dialogue.
"Nothing right now," said Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, when asked by AFP if the North has shown any signs it is open to negotiation.
Campbell, making his first trip to South Korea since taking over the post last month, was speaking after a meeting with Seoul's nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-Lac. "We have to closely work together on how to implement the Security Council resolution and on the other hand... we have to think about resumption of dialogue as well," Wi told the US envoy before their closed-door talks.
Campbell, on arrival from Japan Saturday, had outlined what he called a two-track strategy involving tougher sanctions but also negotiations if the North is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions.
The international standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programmes has intensified in recent months.
After the United Nations Security Council censured its April 5 long-range rocket launch, the North announced it was quitting six-party nuclear disarmament talks with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan.
It staged its second nuclear test on May 25, prompting the Council to adopt a resolution imposing tougher sanctions.
Last Thursday it imposed a travel ban on five North Korean officials and asset freezes on five more entities involved in the banned weapons programmes.
Campbell Saturday had urged the impoverished North to return to six-party talks, warning it would otherwise face more isolation and economic hardship.
"Truth of the matter is, down this path North Korea has chosen lie greater tensions, greater hardships for its people, more isolation and lack of engagement in the international economy," he told journalists.
"I think it's unsustainable, and we believe that over time, North Korea will ultimately choose to re-engage."