By Ryu Jin, Reuben Staines
Staff Reporters

Seoul’s chief nuclear negotiator said Friday that ``more diplomatic efforts’’ are needed to get the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear arms programs restarted, hinting an intensive tug of war among relevant nations is taking place behind the scenes.

South Korea and the United States, along with other nations, are exerting efforts not only to resume the stalled dialogue, but also to make substantial progress once the talks are restarted in the future, Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said.

``We concluded that additional, intensive efforts are needed to bring the main rivals closer for substantial negotiations,’’ he said in a press briefing after meeting over lunch with his U.S. counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill. ``We agreed a more active role on the part of China will be important in this process.’’

Back from a trip to Beijing and Tokyo earlier this week, Hill met with high-level security officials in Seoul in what many experts viewed as last-minute diplomatic efforts by the United States before turning to ``other options’’ to resolve the nuclear standoff. Prior to the talks with Song, Hill met with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who chairs the standing committee of the presidential National Security Council (NSC).

Hill also reiterated that the six-party dialogue formula is the best option to end the nuclear dispute. But he did not exclude the possibility of the U.S. considering other options, adding the situation is growing with ``a sense of urgency.’’

``The best option is the six-party talks, but clearly there are other options,’’ the top U.S. negotiator said in a separate media briefing at a U.S. embassy building in Seoul. He didn’t elaborate what the other options could be, saying it may undermine the current talks.

North Korea has been refusing to return to the six-party talks, aimed at ending its nuclear programs in exchange for various rewards, including economic aid and security assurances. June marks a year since the talks, also involving China, Japan and Russia, have been stalled.

Efficiency of the multilateral dialogue format has been brought into doubt in recent weeks, as calls for punitive measures against the reclusive North have been raised since the North has suspended a key nuclear reactor earlier this month.

Although he once again stated that the multilateral talks are the only way to get the issue solved diplomatically, U.S. President George W. Bush harshly criticized North Korea on Thursday, calling its leader, Kim Jong-il, a ``dangerous person’’ and a ``tyrant.’’

In particular, recent reports on North Korea’s nuclear activities and capabilities have fed rampant media speculation that the Stalinist country could test an atomic weapon while the U.S. is moving toward picking up a stick, such as a referral of the case to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC).

``Obviously, that’s going to require the parties agreeing. After all, some of the parties in the process have got the capacity to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution,’’ he said in a press conference at the White House.

A high-level government official in Seoul, deeply involved in the nuclear issue, described the current situation as an intensive tug of war, in which the main antagonists _ North Korea and the U.S. _ pulling against each other outside the negotiation table before real talks.

``The six-party formula is not a tool to press one certain country,’’ he said on condition of anonymity. ``It is a place where the participating nations try to resolve problems through dialogue and negotiation.’’

Hill, Bush’s point man on the North Korean nuclear issue, returned to Seoul Thursday night for another round of strategy talks with South Korean officials to wrap up his three-nation trip. But, he found little hope in China, which carries the greatest leverage with Pyongyang, according to diplomatic sources.

He will be back in Seoul in mid-May en route to Laos for a regional cooperation forum. Hill, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, leaves for Washington today.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr