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March 12 (By Yonhap News) 　

By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington correspondent in New York

North Korean vice foreign minister Ri Yong-ho departed Monday for Moscow after attending a seminar on Korean Peninsula security in New York organized by Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation and others.

Ri flew out of New York Monday on Aeroflot Flight 316, which left John F. Kennedy Airport at 8:05 pm. He arrived in Moscow at 1:25 pm Tuesday. Ri is expected to meet with Igor Margulov, the Russian foreign ministry’s vice minister for Asia-Pacific affairs and Ri‘s counterpart in six-party talks.

After visiting Moscow, Ri is expected to visit China to meet with officials involved in the six-party talks. Observers are predicting North Korea will speed up efforts to resume the talks.

After that, Ri is believed be to heading to Beijing for discussions on the talks with Chinese special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs Wu Dawei before returning to Pyongyang.

Ri initially scheduled a return flight when coming to New York from Beijing, but ended up canceling from the US and booking a new flight for Moscow, sources reported. Analysts believe Ri will be sharing the outcome of the New York seminar with Moscow and Beijing and soliciting their cooperation on the normalization of Pyongyang-Washington relations and the resumption of the six-party talks.

While meeting with reporters in front of his accommodations at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel Monday before leaving New York, Ri said International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of North Korean nuclear facilities would be taking place in the near future. He also appeared positive on the issue of relations with the US, saying Pyongyang would gladly comply if the US wanted improved relations.

This stood in contrast with his remarks about inter-Korean dialogue. Ri said, “It’s important to fulfill the terms of the June 15 and October 4 Joint Declarations, but the South does not appear willing to do that yet.”

Ri is also reported to have emphasized this point at the seminar. While Ri himself did not give any specifics, sources reported discussions taking place at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) seminar toward establishing liaison offices in Washington and Pyongyang. Meanwhile, Ri‘s emphasis on Pyongyang’s willingness to take early steps toward denuclearization, with its acceptance of IAEA inspectors, was geared to the ultimate goal of normalized relations with Washington.

In multilateral meetings and discussions with the US, North Korea has consistently emphasized the matter of a NK/US peace agreement to replace the current armistice between the UN, China and North Korea. In that sense, Pyongyang has not altered its basic stance of building a peace regime on the peninsula through a four-stage process involving the end of hostile policies from Washington, the removal of international sanctions against it, normalization of North Korea-US relations, and the shift from an armistice agreement to a full-fledged peace treaty.

But Pyongyang has shown signs of a tactical shift recently, emphasizing normalization of relations with Washington as a precursor to a peace agreement. Analysts said this could be read as intended to maintain distance from Seoul. Whereas discussions toward a peace treaty would be unable to proceed without South Korean involvement, discussions toward normalizing Pyongyang-Washington relations would leave little room for South Korean involvement.

Ri reiterated Pyongyang‘s current position when asked when he expected inter-Korean dialogue to take place, saying, “We will gladly proceed hand-in-hand if [Seoul] is willing to respect and honor the terms of the June 15 and October 4 Joint Declarations, but the South does not appear willing to do that yet.”

The June 15 North-South Joint Declaration was made in 2000 and confirmed four sessions of North-South ministerial talks and North-South military working-level talks that were held from July to December 2000. The October 4 Joint Declaration was signed in 2007 by then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The declaration was a plan to enact the decisions made during second North-South summit.

North Korea has recently engaged in what observers are interpreting as roundabout criticisms of South Korea’s joint military exercises with the US. North Korean representatives at the seminar were reported as saying that the country wanted to engage with both Washington and Seoul rather than shutting out the latter, but that it could not trust the Lee Myung-bak administration.

A foreign affairs source closely connected with North Korea said, “I think they want to start inter-Korean relations over with the next administration rather than having any more dialogue with the Lee administration.”

While circumventing Seoul through its efforts to improve relations with Washington without engaging with the South Korean government, Pyongyang laid the foundation for a resumption of the six-party talks. Ri altered his schedule after the US visit, adding stops in Russia and China.

Analysts are predicting that Seoul will counter Pyongyang’s attempts at a “two-track strategy” by responding with its own efforts to beef up its own alliance with the US. However, they are not optimistic about the prospects for this.

Sources reported the US representatives were encouraged by the North Korean response at the seminar. First and foremost, it confirmed that the Kim Jong-un regime is interested in improving relations and having dialogue with Washington. With the nuclear issue is as yet unresolved, the Barack Obama administration dreads North Korea causing problems with its nuclear program or other activities, at least until the presidential election is over. Ri’s visit suggested a possibility for a resolution in this area.

Now, observers are focusing their attention on how the US goes about discussing the denuclearization issue with North Korea. Washington has consistently emphasized the need for denuclearization to come first, while Pyongyang wants to improve relations with Washington before taking steps toward denuclearization. A major US representative at the seminar is reported to have suggested a return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for a level of North Korean denuclearization.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]