Former top U.S. diplomat blames Washington for delayed North Korea talks

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former U.S. State Department official who maintains contact with North Korea said Thursday U.S. dealings with that country have been hampered by missteps and lack of a coherent policy.

"You can't get anywhere without a clear roadmap and we don't have one," said Kenneth Quinones, who served as State Department liaison with North Korea's UN mission between 2004 and 2006.

He said a promising efforts last year to resume six-party nuclear disarmament talks fell by the wayside when President George W. Bush referred to North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Il as a "tyrant."

Quinones, who spoke at the U.S.-Korea Institute, said the North Koreans told U.S. officials: "We're not coming back until the president stops the criticism."

Weeks later, he said, there was fresh progress toward a new round but U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld soured the atmosphere when he announced stealth fighter planes were being sent to South Korea.

Talks were finally resumed in Beijing in September 2005 and the session ended with a breakthrough communique that included broad agreement on a number of issues, including a North Korean commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

But the good feelings dissipated within 48 hours, Quinones said, when a dispute erupted over whether North Korea should receive light-water reactors before carrying out nuclear disarmament.

North Korea agreed recently to return to the six-party talks after a boycott of almost a year. Since the last round, the North has tested missiles and a nuclear device.

As a result, Quinones said: "The price for a diplomatic resolution will be far higher than it would have been last year."

The next round could start before the end of the year.

Quinones said North Korea is eager to revive the 1994 Agreed Framework under which it was to receive two light-water nuclear reactors in return for the freezing of nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.

That agreement lapsed in late 2002, one element in a steady deterioration in relations with the United States. Work on the reactors, financed by Japan and South Korea, has been suspended for several years.

Quinones once served as North Korea desk officer at the State Department. He retired from the diplomatic corps in 1996 but was recalled to duty in 2004 for the intermediary role with the North Korean UN mission.

He said mistrust has permeated the U.S.-North Korean relationship.

"The North Koreans don't want to negotiate with a government they do not comprehend," he said.

"They found that the rules constantly changed."

Mistrust "can be devastating to diplomacy," he said.