(Updates with U.S. officials' comments on assets dispute, paragraphs 12-13)

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday two of its top diplomats would travel to Japan, China and South Korea next week to prepare for a new round of six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

China, which is expected to host the six-party talks, said it wanted them to resume soon and a Japanese official said Pyongyang was feeling the pinch from a year of U.S. financial sanctions as well as international punitive steps taken after its Oct. 9 nuclear test.

While no date has been set for the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Beijing, "If we're prepared and each side agrees, then sooner the better."

North Korea agreed on Tuesday to resume the negotiations, which on Sept. 19, 2005, produced an agreement for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic, diplomatic and energy incentives from the other parties.

North Korea began to back away from that agreement soon after it was reached and refused to attend the six-party talks for nearly a year, blaming U.S. financial sanctions.

To lay the ground for the new talks, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph are tentatively due to visit Tokyo on Sunday and Monday, Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Seoul on Thursday.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters the two were expected to meet Russian officials during their visit to Beijing and to return to Washington on Nov. 10. They are not expected to meet North Korean officials on the trip.

McCormack said they would discuss how to create "the best atmosphere to prepare for this next round ... so that we start to see progress using the Sept. 19 (2005) joint statement as the starting point."

North Korea's nuclear test drew worldwide condemnation and U.N. sanctions under Resolution 1718. China was stinging in its condemnation of the test and backed the latest U.N. sanctions targeting trade with North Korea in large conventional weapons and luxury goods.

A senior Japanese intelligence official told Reuters on Thursday that steps Washington announced last year to restrict North Korean access to global financial networks had been squeezing Pyongyang.

"I believe they are having a considerable effect on North Korea's economy," said Takashi Ohizumi, director-general of Tokyo's Public Security Intelligence Agency. "The flow of funds into North Korea has been blocked to a great extent."

U.S. officials showed no sign of compromise on Thursday in the dispute with North Korea over the financial crackdown, including one possible solution -- unfreezing accounts involved in legitimate trade.

"It's all one big criminal enterprise," a senior U.S. official said of North Korea's trading system. "You can't separate it out."

SANCTIONS STAY

Ohizumi said Pyongyang might try to use its newly proven nuclear capability as a bargaining chip, so countries must keep sanctions in place.

McCormack said the U.S. diplomats also planned to discuss the implementation of the U.N. sanctions. In Beijing, Chinese spokesman Liu confirmed China would keep observing them.

North Korea's surprise decision to return to negotiations has raised speculation China had pressured Pyongyang by squeezing the struggling fortress state's economic lifelines.

Chinese trade data released on Monday showed China sent no crude oil to the energy-starved North in September -- before the nuclear test, but after Pyongyang ignited regional anger by test-firing missiles.

Liu denied Beijing had pressured its neighbor into concessions. "China has never approved of using pressure and sanctions to solve problems," he said.

Ohizumi left no doubt he believed that sanctions and economic isolation were pinching North Korea's secretive leaders, and public disaffection there was rising as the economy soured.

"The gap between rich and poor has been deepening. There are signs in several areas that the public view of the establishment is declining," he said. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, Teruaki Ueno in Tokyo, and Carol Giacomo, Arshad Mohammed and David Lawder in Washington)

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink