By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The United States is willing to open an office in Pyongyang if North Korea takes concrete steps of dismantling its nuclear weapons programs, Alexander Vershbow, Washington’s top envoy to Seoul, said on Wednesday.

The ambassador’s remarks seemed designed to rebuff North Korea’s repeated claims that the U.S. should first abandon its ``ambition’’ to topple the Pyongyang regime.

``We are prepared to go down the road of normalizing our relations, negotiating a permanent peace agreement for the Korean Peninsula, open an office in Pyongyang, things that show in concrete ways that we have no hostile intention toward North Korea,’’ he said at a breakfast meeting at the National Assembly.

Vershbow said the Kim Jong-il regime creates fear of an outside enemy to ``justify’’ or to ``cover up’’ the failures of its own domestic policies.

``For us to offer to normalize relations with North Korea is not a simple or easy step for an American political leader given how awful that regime really is,’’ he said. ``So I hope North Koreans will do their part in building confidence. We’re ready to do our part.’’

The meeting in the parliament took place on the same day the three-day long six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs resumed in Beijing.

In the last round of talks in September, North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for economic benefits and diplomatic recognition.

Vershbow said that the foundation of the Seoul-Washington relationship is becoming stronger. But he warned that a lack of proper attention could undermine it.

``Some Americans worry that Koreans view everything through the prism of the challenge of reunification and are reluctant to cooperate on anything else,’’ he said. ``Sometimes such perceptions can grow into reality if we don’t take care of this relationship on both sides.’’

Regarding Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s plan to increase financial assistance to North Korea, the American envoy said that he hopes that investment sees a high-rate of return.

``Your minister of unification suggested that Korea alone is going to spend maybe 5 billion dollars over the next 10 to 15 years,’’ Vershbow said. ``He sees this as an investment toward long-term stability and peace. We hope this investment has a high-rate of return.’’

Answering a question on Seoul’s attempts to get back the wartime operational command, he said that it will take time before seeing the final output of the talks even though the two sides began negotiations to reflect the changing situation in Northeast Asia.

``I think we maintain an open mind, but we think this should be handled very carefully in a step-by-step way, taking into account the real security conditions in Korea and in the region,’’ he said.

As for Washington’s hope to have flexibility on its operations of U.S. Forces Korea, Vershbow said that his country’s commitment to the defense of Korea is much more important.

``Yes, we need to have the flexibility to move our forces to meet crisis in different parts of the world,’’ he said. ``But that’s not at the expense of our commitment to the defense of Korea.’’

On bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) talks, Vershbow said the two allies can begin negotiations early next year. But he said key issues, such as South Korea’s ban on U.S. beef imports and the screen quota system, should first be addressed.

``And that would remove some objections that are being raised by certain influential sectors in the U.S. regarding an FTA,’’ he said.

Vershbow was formerly the top U.S. envoy to Russia before he replaced Christopher Hill last month. Hill is now the chief U.S. nuclear envoy to the six-party talks.

im@koreatimes.co.kr