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US envoy on North Korea Glyn Davies takes questions from reporters

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer

On Jan. 24, US envoy on North Korea Glyn Davies said, “That message is that we, the United States of America, are still open to authentic and credible negotiations to implement the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement.”

After meeting South Korean Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lim Sung-nam at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Davies told reporters that the United Nations Security Council resolution was a unified message from the international community calling on the North to follow through with its responsibility to dismantle its nuclear program as laid out in the September 19th joint statement and elsewhere. He explained that his visits to South Korea, China, and Japan were intended, “to explore ideas for how we might move forward, how might we achieve authentic and credible negotiations.”

“This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Davies said concerning North Korea’s talk of a nuclear test. “This is a moment to seize the opportunity that has been out there with the new government in Seoul, with the renewal of the mandate of the President of the United States, who has always been interested in finding diplomatic ways forward. This is an opportunity to try to find a way forward in that respect.”

“We are interested, as we have been all along, as we demonstrated back in 2011 and 2012 through our 10-month effort to talk to North Korea, always interested in trying to find ways forward diplomatically with the North,” Davies added. “It is not for me to predict whether they will test or not. We hope they do not. We call on them not to do it. It would be highly provocative. It would set back the cause of trying to find a solution to these long-standing problems that have prevented the peninsula from becoming reunited. .”

Davies was asked what kind of conditions there would be on the “authentic and credible negotiations” he had mentioned. “We are interested, as we have been all along, as we demonstrated back in 2011 and 2012 through our 10-month effort to talk to North Korea, always interested in trying to find ways forward diplomatically with the North. So, I am not going to get into conditionality for any diplomatic process going forward. ”

“Our policy toward North Korea has been the same for a while now. It has been a dual-track policy of engagement when possible, pressure when necessary. We are, of course, in a bit of a pressure phase,” said Davies.

“For the present, it is important to faithfully adhere to the UN‘s resolution on North Korea. In that regard, we did not discuss the question of additional sanctions against the North on an individual country level,” a senior South Korean government official said concerning the meeting between Korean and US representatives.

“At this time of transition in political power, not only in Korea but also in other neighboring countries, close cooperation between South Korea and the US is even more essential. On this basis, we are in agreement that we should enable North Korea to make the right choices by sending a firm message so that the situation will not deteriorate further,” he added.

Davies met with government officials including Chun Young-woo, presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security, and Kim Chun-sik, vice minister of the Unification Ministry. After having a conference with his Chinese counterparts, he is planning to head to Japan on Jan. 25.

Davies arrived in Korea on Jan. 23, accompanied by Clifford Hart, US special envoy for the six-party talks, and Sydney Seiler, Director for Japan, Korea and the Six Party Talks.

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