South Korea and the United States see dialogue as a key means of dealing with North Korea, but the communist nation should first prove that it will be serious about fulfilling its commitments if talks are held, Seoul's ambassador to Washington said Thursday.
"Both South Korea and the U.S. have never ruled out dialogue" with North Korea, Amb. Han Duck-soo told reporters. "Dialogue is always one of the important options of approach. However, we need assurances that North Korea will be serious and this dialogue will lead us to get what we want.
Han, who is in Seoul for an annual conference of South Korean diplomatic mission chiefs, said dialogue is one of three key options in dealing with North Korea, along with enforcing international sanctions and strengthening deterrence against provocations.
Six-party talks and other substantive dialogue with North Korea have been stalled since late 2008, with the communist nation staging a series of provocations during the deadlock, such as nuclear and missile tests in 2009 as well as deadly military attacks on the South last year.
As its economic woes deepened, however, the impoverished nation has in recent months stepped up calls for resuming the nuclear talks as well as bilateral dialogue with the South, a move seen as a ploy to win economic aid from the outside world.
In response, Seoul and Washington have urged the North to take responsibility for last year's attacks on the South -- the March sinking of the warship Cheonan and the November shelling of the border island of Yeonpyeong -- and take concrete steps demonstrating its denuclearization commitments if dialogue is to reopen.
South Korea and the U.S. have also said they are not interested in talking for talks' sake.
North Korea is also believed to have asked for food aid from the U.S.
Amb. Han said any immediate resumption of food aid to the North is unlikely.
"If there is a request for humanitarian aid, the U.S. is expected to have a review of that," Han said. "However, if the scale goes beyond the level of humanitarian aid, it requires consultation with parliament. In particular, as there are essential elements, such as making sure of the monitoring system, I think it will be difficult to proceed quickly even if there is a request."
North Korea has relied on foreign aid to feed its 24 million people after natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s. Food shortages in the country are believed to have worsened after the South cut off unconditional aid in 2008 under a policy to link assistance to progress in the North's nuclear disarmament.