US, S Korea envoys discuss North's nuclear claim

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South Korean protesters with portraits of US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth shout slogans during a rally to denounce the United States' policy against North Korea in front of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul Saturday. — AP

SEOUL, Sept 5 (AP): Top nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States held talks Saturday on a strategy to bring North Korea back to disarmament negotiations, a day after the North claimed to have succeeded in experimental uranium enrichment.
US special envoy on North Korea Stephen Bosworth and South Korean envoy Wi Sung-lac made no comments after their meeting. Bosworth said in Beijing Friday that any nuclear development in North Korea was a matter of concern.
"We confirm the necessity to maintain a coordinated position and the need for a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," he said.
North Korea's claim that it is in the final stages of enriching uranium - an easier way to make nuclear weapons - raises the possibility that it might add uranium-based weapons to its stockpile of bombs made from plutonium.
The tough talk came as Washington showed no signs of easing pressure on North Korea through sanctions despite the North's recent series of conciliatory gestures, including the release of two detained American journalists and a reported invitation to top US envoys, including Bosworth, to visit Pyongyang.
"We are prepared for both dialogue and sanctions," the North said in a letter to the UN Security Council carried Friday by its official Korean Central News Agency. If some members of the council put "sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue," it said.
The North warned it would be left with no choice but to take "yet another strong self-defensive countermeasure" if the standoff continues. It did not elaborate.
A pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan urged the US to hold talks with the North to make the Korean peninsula nuclear-free, saying Pyongyang's next steps will depend on how Washington reacts to its latest moves.
The Choson Sinbo newspaper, widely seen as a mouthpiece for North Korea, said time is not "limitless" for the US to decide whether to hold talks or continue to pursue sanctions.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the North's announcement Friday was troubling.
"We are very concerned by these claims that they are moving closer to the weaponisation of nuclear materials, but I can't really comment on the veracity, how true these claims are," Kelly said.