(사진제공=AP통신)
(사진제공=AP통신)
(사진제공=AP통신)
[홍콩=AP/KNS뉴스통신] 미국 힐러리 클린턴 국무장관이 북한의 고위 관계자가 미국을 방문해 6자 회담재개에 대해 논의할 것이라고 밝혔다.
남북한 간의 긴장관계가 지속되면서 2008년 이후 교착상태에 빠진 6자 회담이 재개될 가능성이 재기되고 있는 것처럼 보인다.
인도네시아에서 열린 아세안 지역안보포럼에 참석한 남북한 외무장관의 만남 이후 미국 클린턴 국무장관은 김계관 6자회담 북한 대표를 뉴욕으로 초청하면서 6자 회담재개를 위한 노력하자는 합의를 도출했다.
이번 북한 김 부부장의 방미초청은 작년 3월 천암함 사건으로 우리 정부와 미국이 북한 제재조치를 취하면서 교착상태에 빠진 북한 비핵화 회담의 재개를 위한 예비회담의 성격이 짙다.
(영문기사 원문)
North Korean official to go to US for nuke talks
HONG KONG (AP) — A senior North Korean official will visit the United States this week to discuss the possible resumption of long-stalled international negotiations on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
The news that diplomats could be close to reviving six-nation disarmament talks that broke off in 2008 comes after more than a year of animosity and high tension between the rival Koreas and raises hopes in a region on edge. Two attacks Seoul blames on Pyongyang last year killed 50 South Koreans and led to threats of war.
Clinton's invitation for North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan to visit New York follows a crucial meeting Friday between nuclear negotiators from North and South Korea on the sidelines of a regional forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Bali. It was the first such meeting since disarmament talks collapsed in 2008, and the envoys agreed to work toward the resumption of six-nation negotiations.
The recent diplomacy comes after more than a year of hardline unity by Washington and Seoul since international investigators said a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in March of last year, killing 46 sailors. The South demanded the North show regret for the warship sinking and an artillery attack on a front-line South Korean island that killed four in November.
North Korea denies a role in the sinking and says South Korea provoked the island shelling with a firing drill. While refusing to apologize, however, Pyongyang has repeatedly shown a willingness to return to the disarmament talks. The North is seen as needing a diplomatic breakthrough and outside food aid ahead of the 2012 centennial of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.
김희광 기자 april4241@naver.com
