Pat Dollard

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she sees six-party negotiations aimed at disbanding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal as “essential.”

“I think the six-party talks are essential,” she told reporters at the State Department when asked about the multilateral process started under former President George W. Bush.

The six-way talks have been a “useful forum” to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions while allowing for bilateral meetings within the framework, she said.

Clinton did not elaborate as the administration of President Barack Obama is reviewing its North Korea policy. She only said, “We are going to pursue steps that we think are effective.”

The last round of the six-way party talks, involving North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, ended without progress in December as participants failed to resolve their differences over ways to verify Pyongyang’s nuclear information.

Last week, the United States embraced North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s willingness to move forward the six-party negotiations as a favorable development.

“That’s a good thing,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood, referring to Kim’s renewed commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula made during a visit to Pyongyang by a senior Chinese official.

On Friday, Kim told Wang Jiarui, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, that North Korea wants to boost cooperation with China to promote the six-party process, China’s Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua’s report Friday quoted Kim as saying that North Korea is “working toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

He was quoted as saying that North Korea does not want tension on the peninsula and wants to “strengthen coordination and cooperation with China and continually promote the six-party talks process.” (AP)