NORTH Korea officially broke its silence yesterday on a Korean peace proposal by President Clinton and the South Korean President, Mr Kim Young-sam, saying it was examining the idea of four-nation talks.
"We are now examining the proposal of the US side to see whether it seeks another purpose and whether it is feasible," said a statement issued by the North Korean Foreign Ministry and carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Pyongyang's statement suggested it was sceptical about the proposal byPresident Clinton and President Kim that their two nations join with China and North Korea to discuss a peace agreement to replace the pact that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.
"We are not yet certain whether the proposal for quadrilateral talks is aimed at concluding a genuine peace agreement between the signatories to the Korean armistice agreement," the statement said.
Without dismissing the proposal out of hand, the foreign ministry statement reiterated Pyongyang's official line that talks should be between North Korea and the US.
"As for the matter of preserving peace on the Korean Peninlsula, it should be discussed and decided on by the DPRK and the US, signatories to the armistice agreement," it said.
North Korea earlier this month announced it would no longer abide by the armistice and carried out three troop incursions in the neutral buffer zone to underscore its insistence that the truce accord no longer functioned.
The bellicose gestures were the culmination of a lengthy campaign by Pyongyang to erode the 1953 armistice and press the US to sue for peace directly with North Korea.
But Mr Clinton, in his summit with Mr Kim on Tuesday, once again flatly ruled out direct negotiations with Pyongyang.
A Japanese analyst of North Korean affairs said Pyongyang would probably stick to its demand for US talks, but said the noncommittal North Korean response left room for negotiation.
"It is a very unusual response by North Korea, which usually either clearly rejects or accepts an offer," said Mr Tomio Okamoto, an analyst at Radio Press, a Japanese news agency.
Earlier, Mr Li Sam-ro, North Korea's ambassador to Thailand, was quoted by Japan's Mainichi Shimbun daily as saying South Korea could play an "observer" role in Pyongyang-Washington talks aimed at reaching a temporary peace treaty.
North and South Korea conducted a series of high-level contacts in 1991-1992 but talks collapsed in July 1994 after the death of the North Korean founder and president, Kim Il-sung, as Pyongyang was enraged at Seoul's refusal to offer condolences.