The six-way forum involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia has not held any talks since its last meeting in late 2008 on persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
With the talks being stalled, the North has conducted two more nuclear tests in 2009 and 2013, allegedly upgrading its inter-continental ballistic missile technology.
“I hope the six-party talks (can) restart,” Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first term of President Barack Obama, said in a lecture in Seoul.
“But I do wonder whether it‘s gonna be possible, whether we have to contemplate a new form with a smaller group that will allow really clear dialogue with North Korea,” he ssaid.
“I’d love to get back to six-party talks, but it‘s clear after we have tried for a decade without resuming talks (that resumption is difficult),” Campbell later said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency about the long-stalled forum.
He said that “I think we should always be finding opportunities to be testing what North Korea’s particular approach is. And that can be done through track two or very quiet diplomacy.”
Campbell also noted that it‘s too early to determine that North Korea’s unwilling to come to the negotiable table, given the increasing pressure the country is facing from China.
“I have heard during our conference that to date there has been no response from North Korea,” he said. “But it‘s too early to project. We need to see over time how (the) North Korean position evolves ... (because) I think it’s possible that North Korea is coming under increasing pressure from China to take appropriate steps and to basically come back to the negotiating table.”
In the lecture, Campbell also said that the U.S. should further toughen financial sanctions against North Korea as the isolated country defies international calls to drop its nuclear program and stop military provocations.
Following its third nuclear test in February last year, North Korea conducted a host of missile and rocket test-firings, drawing condemnation from the international community.
“If we face real serious provocations going forward with North Korea, we have to keep one option ... The fact is that if we choose, we can make life much more difficult through financial sanctions on North Korea,” he said. “Unfortunately, if they continue along this line of provocations, I think the only way to send a very clear signal to China, who I think will be very instrumental in the domestic politics of North Korea, is for us to step up our firmer diplomacy,” Campbell added.
Campbell is currently chairman and CEO of the Asia Group, a U.S.-based strategy and business advisory group.