U.S. official in S. Korea says to keep pressure on DPRK

A senior U.S. official visiting South Korea said on Monday that pressures should be kept on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) until Pyongyang shows sincerity toward dialogue.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken told reporters after talks with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong that it is important to maintain international society's coordination and pressures on the DPRK until the country shows its authenticity toward dialogue.

Blinken urged the DPRK to return to dialogue table for the denuclearized Korean Peninsula and show its sincerity toward such dialogue, saying the United States is open to the dialogue.

The six-party talks, which involve South Korea, DPRK, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, were initiated in Beijing in Aug. 2003 but have been halted since Dec. 2008.

Pyongyang called for resuming the aid-for-disarmament talks without preconditions, but Seoul and Washington demanded the DPRK' s sincerity toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

U.S. President Barack Obama decided to impose additional sanctions on the DPRK over a hacking attack of Sony Pictures in December last year, in which Pyongyang has denied any involvement.

Blinken arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a three-day visit. It was part of his first trip to three Asian countries, including China and Japan, since he took office in December. He will leave for Beijing on Tuesday.

His visit came after Wendy Sherman, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, visited Seoul in late January to discuss DPRK issues with South Korean counterparts.

Blinken said it was not a coincidence for him to select Northeast Asia and Seoul as his first overseas trip, noting that it reflected the importance, which the Obama administration was placing on the region and the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Endi