NORTH KOREA OFFERS TO ACCEPT ADDING JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA TO TALKS, IF BILATERAL TALKS FIRST

Kyodo, "North Korea not facing sanctions soon: Koizumi", The Japan Times, May 26, 2003

Pyongyang pleases

Japan has welcomed North Korea's readiness to accept a U.S. demand to include Japan and South Korea in multilateral talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry source said Tokyo welcomed the development, which came to light in a statement by an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman the same day.

The statement said that North Korea is willing to include Japan and South Korea in the talks if Pyongyang and Washington hold bilateral talks first.

The source said the announcement "reflected North Korea's desire to continue dialogue" with concerned countries on the issue.

... The spokesman said the nuclear issue stems from the "threat caused by the hostile policy of the U.S." toward North Korea.

"As there are issues to be settled between the DPRK and the U.S., the two sides are required to sit face-to-face for a candid discussion on each other's policies," he said. "Only then will it be possible to have multilateral talks and make them fruitful."