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I was just looking over some Google news wires and found this:
The first part gives a lot of hope to the talks, but that wardrum beating at the end is a bit of a shudder.
How serious is NK about going to war if the UN gets involved?
North Korea's nuclear standoff is likely to enter a new phase in the near future with signs of development with China, one of the six parties concerned, sources said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit North Korea upon the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
A specific date is yet to be revealed, but some predicted the trip may happen within the first half of this year.
June will mark one year since the last round of the disarmament talks. Leaders of the six-party framework - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - have increasingly stated the standoff cannot continue for much longer.
Experts here said Hu Jintao's visit to North Korea will be significant to the disarmament discussion.
"China will show its signature diplomacy by making the presidential visit, saving face for Kim Jong-il and at the same time strongly implying the North should return to the six-party table," said Park Young-ho of the state-run Korean Institute for National Unification.
Pyongyang has stalled since Feb. 10, when it released a statement claiming to possess nuclear weapons and would refuse to attend the six-party talks unless Washington drop its "hostile" policy on North Korea.
In an apparent effort to soften the situation, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used much of her time during the Asian tour urging the North to resume talks and acknowledging it as a negotiator.
Sources said the Hu Jintao visit has been considered a possibility since last year and suggested the trip is highly likely to occur before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in September in South Korea.
"Positive gestures will be expected from North Korea upon the visit of Hu Jintao," Park Young-ho said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also talked about the looming end of the six-party boycott.
"By June, it will be a year since the last round of the six-party talks. Haven't we waited long enough?" Ban said in a morning debate hosted by the Korea Regional Policy Institute in central Seoul yesterday.
"Secretary Rice description of the North as a 'sovereign state' during her Asian tour was a gesture crediting Pyongyang as an equal negotiating partner," Ban said.
Ban also said there was no deadline agreed among the five of the six-party members on North Korea's return to the table but that a resumption of the negotiation was a priority.
On her last stop in Beijing earlier this week, Rice warned that Washington may consider "other options" should Pyongyang continue to boycott the talks. Other options may include referring North Korea's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council, according to experts.
In an interview with The Nation, North Korean Ambassador to Thailand O Song-chol said Pyongyang was ready to go to war with the United States over the Stalinist state's contentious nuclear program. Chol added that North Korea was also prepared to enter into peace talks to resolve the dispute in the interview.
Chol urged the United States not to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council, saying the move would be tantamount to a declaration of war, the Nation reported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit North Korea upon the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
A specific date is yet to be revealed, but some predicted the trip may happen within the first half of this year.
June will mark one year since the last round of the disarmament talks. Leaders of the six-party framework - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - have increasingly stated the standoff cannot continue for much longer.
Experts here said Hu Jintao's visit to North Korea will be significant to the disarmament discussion.
"China will show its signature diplomacy by making the presidential visit, saving face for Kim Jong-il and at the same time strongly implying the North should return to the six-party table," said Park Young-ho of the state-run Korean Institute for National Unification.
Pyongyang has stalled since Feb. 10, when it released a statement claiming to possess nuclear weapons and would refuse to attend the six-party talks unless Washington drop its "hostile" policy on North Korea.
In an apparent effort to soften the situation, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used much of her time during the Asian tour urging the North to resume talks and acknowledging it as a negotiator.
Sources said the Hu Jintao visit has been considered a possibility since last year and suggested the trip is highly likely to occur before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in September in South Korea.
"Positive gestures will be expected from North Korea upon the visit of Hu Jintao," Park Young-ho said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also talked about the looming end of the six-party boycott.
"By June, it will be a year since the last round of the six-party talks. Haven't we waited long enough?" Ban said in a morning debate hosted by the Korea Regional Policy Institute in central Seoul yesterday.
"Secretary Rice description of the North as a 'sovereign state' during her Asian tour was a gesture crediting Pyongyang as an equal negotiating partner," Ban said.
Ban also said there was no deadline agreed among the five of the six-party members on North Korea's return to the table but that a resumption of the negotiation was a priority.
On her last stop in Beijing earlier this week, Rice warned that Washington may consider "other options" should Pyongyang continue to boycott the talks. Other options may include referring North Korea's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council, according to experts.
In an interview with The Nation, North Korean Ambassador to Thailand O Song-chol said Pyongyang was ready to go to war with the United States over the Stalinist state's contentious nuclear program. Chol added that North Korea was also prepared to enter into peace talks to resolve the dispute in the interview.
Chol urged the United States not to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council, saying the move would be tantamount to a declaration of war, the Nation reported.
How serious is NK about going to war if the UN gets involved?
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