US PRESIDENT Barack Obama sent a highly classified letter to North Korea’s Kim Jong-il urging the reclusive leader to continue with peace talks, as the North’s only major ally, China, called on both Washington and Pyongyang to stay on the path of dialogue.
During a meeting with South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak, China’s vice-president Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao’s anointed heir, said the situation on the peninsula was undergoing “a very big change” since talks between US envoy Stephen Bosworth and North Korean officials.
It was during this meeting that Mr Bosworth reportedly handed over the letter from Mr Obama.
The contents, indeed the letter’s existence, have remained secret and there has been much speculation over it. Sources close to the parties involved in the six-party talks say the letter reportedly urged North Korea to implement denuclearisation measures specified in a joint statement issued in September 2005 and return to the six-party nuclear talks, involving China, Russia, both Koreas, Japan and the US.
Pyongyang declared these talks dead earlier this year after it tested missiles and atomic weapons, prompting the UN Security Council to introduce difficult sanctions on the North.
The North Koreans said the only way forward was direct talks with Washington, something which has angered other partners in the talks.
Mr Obama also apparently stressed that Washington-Pyongyang relations can be normalised, despite years of hostility, and there will be economic assistance provided to the North once it abandons its nuclear programme.
Mr Xi was in Seoul for a four-day visit and he was seeking renewed impetus to get the talks going.
“Both sides should . . . continue to make efforts for the situation on the Korean peninsula to move in a good direction,” said Mr Xi.
Sending private letters to Mr Kim is not without precedent – former president Bill Clinton did the same – but not revealing the contents to anyone but a select few in Washington is unusual.
The Chinese vice-president called for active South Korean efforts to improve relations with North Korea to ease tensions and revive the six-party process.
China is widely seen as the country with the most influence in Pyongyang, as economic aid from it keeps its long-time communist ally ticking over. This clout is seen as key to getting the North back to the negotiating table, particularly as China is hosting the talks and is keen to show that it can operate as a regional honest broker.
Washington and Pyongyang seem to have agreed on the need to resume talks but the North did not make a firm commitment on when it would rejoin the negotiations. Mr Bosworth said in midweek that he did not know when those talks might begin.