American envoy Stephen Bosworth says talks with Chinese officials about North Korea's nuclear program have determined that a multilateral approach to the issue remains essential.
Bosworth spoke in Beijing Tuesday after the meetings. He said there was a "complete" exchange of views, and that the common desire is a resumption of the six-party talks that include Russia, Japan, and North and South Korea.
A Chinese official said before his arrival that mounting tensions with North Korea make it "imperative" to restart six-party talks about Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. But Bosworth told reporters earlier Tuesday in Tokyo that Washington is not willing to resume the talks while North Korea has nuclear programs under way.
Bosworth is traveling with seven other diplomats and intelligence officers to coordinate the policy response to Pyongyang's latest actions. Earlier this month, the secretive regime showed a top U.S. nuclear scientist a sophisticated uranium enrichment facility where it said it had 2,000 working centrifuges.
Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, met officials in South Korea before traveling to Tokyo, where he and Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara agreed they should react calmly to the disclosure.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday the facility may be nothing more than a "publicity stunt." He said the glimpse of the facility given to American nuclear scientist Stephen Hecker does not necessarily mean that Pyongyang has mastered the technology.
Hecker said last week that he could not confirm that the complex was fully operational and that it may be intended to produce fuel for an experimental light-water reactor under construction nearby. But he said the facility also could be used to make highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
