S. Korea, U.S. urge N. Korea to take denuclearization steps

South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday that North Korea won't be able to pull itself out of diplomatic isolation as long as it holds onto its nuclear program, Seoul's chief nuclear envoy said Tuesday.

Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, made the remark to reporters after talks with his U.S. counterpart, Glyn Davies, referring to a recent series of diplomatic efforts by the North to engage with the outside world.

"With regard to the North's recent diplomatic activity, the South and the U.S. emphasized that if North Korea intends to get out of diplomatic isolation and cooperate genuinely with the international community, it must first step forward toward denuclearization," Hwang told reporters.

The two countries also agreed that the North should take positive steps on humanitarian issues, such as organizing reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and releasing three American citizens held in the communist nation, Hwang added.

North Korea has shown brisk diplomatic activity in recent months.

The country's foreign minister, Ri Su-yong, spent more than a month on trips to African and Middle Eastern nations before traveling to Southeast Asia last month.

He also plans to travel to New York this month to attend the U.N. General Assembly. Ri's trip would mark the first time a North Korean foreign minister has attended a U.N. meeting in 15 years.

In addition, veteran diplomat Kang Sok-ju, a ruling Workers' Party secretary handling international relations, has also been on a trip to Europe. Kang is a long-time foreign policy strategist in the North, who served as Pyongyang's lead negotiator in talks with the United States that defused the 1994 nuclear crisis.

Such intense diplomacy is unusual for North Korea, one of the world's most isolated nations.

Hwang also said that the South and the U.S. reaffirmed that six-party talks must be aimed at preventing North Korea from advancing its nuclear capabilities, and making real progress in ultimately denuclearizing the communist regime.

The remark means Seoul and Washington have no intention of lowering the bar for reopening the nuclear talks.

North Korea has long called for unconditional resumption of negotiations on nuclear and other bilateral issues, but the U.S. and South Korea have demanded that the communist nation first take concrete steps to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization.

The State Department said the sides had a "very productive" discussion on a wide range of issues related to North Korea.

"Obviously we agree on the fundamental importance of a denuclearized North Korea. And the special representative's visit reflects the close cooperation between our two countries and our continued focus on pursuing denuclearization of North Korea in a peaceful manner," deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a briefing.

Hwang arrived in Washington on Monday on a hastily arranged trip in the middle of Chuseok, one of Korea's two biggest holidays. His decision to set aside the holiday and fly to Washington may suggest he has urgent issues to discuss with the U.S.

His visit also came as North Korea has been stepping up pressure on the U.S. over the issue of three detained Americans in an apparent attempt to reopen the nuclear negotiations, stalled since late 2008.

Pyongyang announced Sunday that the country's highest court decided to try one of them this coming Sunday. Earlier this month, the North allowed the three Americans to hold interviews with foreign media, during which they called desperately for help and asked their government to send a special envoy to Pyongyang.

The U.S. has said it would do whatever it can to win their release. Speculation has since grown that Washington may give in to the North's pressure and send a special envoy.

There have also been unconfirmed reports that a team of American officials made a secret trip to the North in mid-August to negotiate the release of the detained citizens. The U.S. government has neither denied nor confirmed the reports.

Harf declined to discuss specific efforts the U.S. is making to win their release, including if it is considering sending a special envoy to Pyongyang.

"We don't always outline publicly everything we're considering doing to help get the release of our citizens who are detained in North Korea or things that we're considering here, quite frankly, or our efforts," she said. "So without commenting one way or another on that, we have said that the North Koreans should release all three men out of humanitarian concern." (Yonhap)