WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Republican senator is preparing legislation that aims to jump-start stalled nuclear talks with North Korea by putting the political weight of the U.S. Congress behind specific elements of a deal.
The draft written by Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and obtained by Reuters, appears to go beyond what the Bush administration has laid out publicly in defining what Pyongyang must do to end the nuclear crisis and what it could expect in return.
Critically, it offers a timeline under which such steps would occur.
The draft, which is open to change, was made public at a time when the North Korea problem has been eclipsed by an international dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions and as Iraq remains in turmoil.
"It's Senator Lugar's perspective that ongoing events in Tehran and Baghdad must not distract from addressing the North Korean nuclear crisis," a committee staff aide told Reuters.
"Given the fact that this legislation encompasses the most comprehensive outline prepared for public consideration thus far, the senator is hopeful it will assist in furthering the six-party party process," he added.
Among other proposals, the draft says the United States and North Korea, which have not had formal diplomatic ties since the 1950-53 Korean War, should open liaison offices in each other's capitals.
It promises the United States will normalize ties with long-shunned North Korea once Pyongyang freezes, dismantles and removes from the country all of its nuclear weapons, fissile materials and their means of production.
If this happens, Washington would withdraw objections to providing the North with heavy fuel oil for energy. It also may provide humanitarian energy aid to North Korean schools, hospitals and orphanages and establish a center to retrain the nation's scientists for peaceful projects as it did for former Soviet scientists.
The text has been shared with the administration.
'ONE-STOP SHOPPING'
"This provides a comprehensive roadmap from beginning to end regarding the elimination of North Korea's nuclear program," the Senate aide said.
"If all parties are fully committed to a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis, this bill is one-stop shopping," he added.
Six-party talks aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear program have been deadlocked for months, with Pyongyang refusing to return in part because of a U.S.-led crackdown on revenue from what Washington says are the North's illicit activities like counterfeiting.
A joint statement last September 19 by the six parties -- the United States, North and South Korea, China, Russia and Japan -- appeared to break new ground by foreshadowing talks on a broad range of issues, including a new peace treaty, within the context of the six-party process.
The North vowed to give up its nuclear weapons, while other parties expressed a willingness to provide oil, energy aid and security guarantees. But the accord ruptured the next day.
On taking office, the Bush administration insisted that Pyongyang dismantle its nuclear programs before receiving any economic or political benefits but has since softened that position.
Lugar's legislation says the United States will work with South Korea, Japan, Russia and China to provide a security assurance once the North provides an inventory of its plutonium stocks and begins removing dismantled nuclear materials and facilities from the country.
The North also must not test nuclear weapons nor transfer nuclear, chemical or biological materials out of the country, the bill said.
After that, Pyongyang would have to complete other tasks -- dismantling and removing all missile-related delivery vehicles, chemical and biological weapons as well as dealing with concerns about conventional forces.
Then the North would be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and Washington would begin supporting World Bank and other international financing for the impoverished communist state, the bill said.
A section dealing with humanitarian issues was incomplete but said the United States will begin negotiating a peace treaty to replace the Korean War armistice once North Korea resolves with Tokyo the issue of Japanese abductions.
The bill would allow U.S.-North Korea talks "at any time" either in a bilateral or multilateral context but would maintain the six-party format as the main negotiating venue.
The administration only reluctantly allowed its chief negotiator to hold bilateral talks with North Korean counterparts and some officials and experts have told Reuters that that authorization seems to have been withdrawn.
