SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States is ready to hold talks with North Korea if the conditions are right but will also press U.N. sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a senior envoy for Asia said on Saturday.

North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in May, has said it was boycotting often stalled six-country talks on ending its nuclear arms program and will expand its nuclear arsenal in order to defend itself against a “hostile” United States.

“We have to be clear that under the right circumstances, we should be prepared to sit down with North Korea if they would abandon their nuclear ambitions,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said upon arriving in Seoul ahead of talks with South Korean officials.

“There have to be consequences for these provocative actions so the United States is working in the international community, with the United Nations, to put forward a robust set of sanctions and unilateral actions that are designed to send a clear message to Pyongyang,” he said.

The last round of the disarmament-for-aid talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States was held in late 2008 as the term of former U.S. President George W. Bush was nearing its end.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday expanded the list of North Korean bodies and individuals under sanctions for nuclear and missile activities, adding its atomic energy agency and two of its top officials.

The announcement of the list followed a month of committee haggling after the Security Council expanded U.N. sanctions against North Korea in a June 12 resolution that responded to a nuclear test Pyongyang carried out on May 25.

The sanctions are aimed at cutting off North’s arms trade, a vital source of hard currency for the cash-short state.

North Korea has rattled the security in the region with the nuclear test, threats to attack the South and the test-launch of seven ballistic missiles earlier this month in defiance of a U.N. resolution barring the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.

South Korean government officials said the military moves were aimed at building internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, 67, who is reportedly in poor health and wants to prepare for his youngest son to succeed him in Asia’s only communist dynasty.

The delegation headed by President APKICC, Mohammad Ghalib and comprising Prof Mohammad Zafar Khan, Chaudhry Mohammad Khan and Raja Abdur Rauf called on chairman Kashmir Committee here on Friday.

The APKICC delegation noted lack of clear picture about future of Kashmir, as dialogues between the two countries continued over eight years but produced nothing on core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

They observed that India is not serious about Kashmir solution and it just wanted to buy time. But Kashmiris are determined and will continue their struggle till the achievement of desired goal, they said.

The Kashmiri leaders also expressed serious concerned over Indian sponsored terrorist activities in FATA and Baluchistan and urged Pakistan government to expose Indian hand in the unrest in Pakistan’s western border.

Ghalib also asked Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman to take up with British government the issue of human rights violation by India in Kashmir and impressed upon the government not to support Indian candidacy for membership of UN Security Council. India violated and rejected UN Security Council resolution on Kashmir and, hence can not be qualified for the permanent member of UNSC, he added.

Terming India-Pakistan dialogues a futile exercise, Ghalib said entire political leadership of Kashmiri people has been put in the jails, Kashmiri women are being raped and killed and all draconian black laws are still in place in the held valley. In the face of such extremely unfavourable situation talks with India tantamount to rubbing salt in the wounds of Kashmiri people.

He further said Pakistan presently is facing internal and external pressure and dialogues with India on such occasion could be against the vital interests of the country.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah marked on Friday the first anniversary of the Redwan operation in which the Islamic Resistance exchanged the bodies of two Israeli soldiers with Lebanese captives held in Israeli prisons, including Samir Qintar who had spent more than 28 years in occupation jails. The Operation was named after martyr Imad Moghniyeh, Hajj Redwan, the Islamic Resistance commander who was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in Syria in February  2008.
Representatives of the President, the House Speaker, Political, religious and popular figures as well as liberated captives attended the festival at the Shahed School hall in Beirut’s southern suburb. A delegation of MP Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party also attended the gathering.

Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized the days extending from July 12 to August 14 are very special days in every aspect; loyalty, sacrifice, steadfastness, pride and will.

“The Redwan Operation came in the same days on the second anniversary of the harsh July war of 2006, which we fought against the enemy and paid the tax of the resistance. The 14 of August marked the end of sacrifices in that particular war and the beginning of a new era of struggle. We truly consider this day as the day of the Divine victory which Almighty Allah promised to the patient people and the true and faithful fighters. The whole world had its own interpretation to this victory; but allow us to explain it based on our own teachings to say that what happened back then was a true Divine victory.”

“On the issue of prisoners, this is related to the way we view the prisoners and how we should view the background that rules our position and our rhetoric when we deal with such an issue. If we go back to facts, a prisoner is a citizen of some country. For instance, a Lebanese prisoner is a Lebanese citizen. Therefore the Lebanese people have a fair case because they have rights usurped by an enemy. Eventually, this people will have the motive to work and struggle in various methods to defend itself and its dignity in the framework of this just cause. There are millions of prisoners throughout the world, but they do not stand as equals with those imprisoned for being resistance fighters. Those are called captives.
A captive is captured because he defends a just and national cause, so his cause is not the responsibility of his family. The cause of Samir Qintar did only concern the family of Samir Qintar, neither is the cause of the rest of the captives in Israeli jails who are still in prison like Yehya Skaf. Many people might ask, is a captive worth all these efforts, blood and wars? Yes, he is. Those captives had abandoned everything in this world to engage in the battle of the nation and they were ready to become martyrs. Some resistance fighters might become martyrs; others might get injured or captured. This is why there is no difference between them for the captive holds the spirit of martyrdom. Those have sacrificed for us to become free. We hold the responsibility to set them free to preserve their dignity just as they sought to preserve ours. This is the core of the resistance; this is the key to all coming issues.”
“An open battle still lies ahead. We still have thousands of Palestinian captives, dozens of Syrian, Jordanians and some Lebanese who are still missing. As much as we are concerned in Hezbollah, we consider ourselves responsible for every Lebanese, Palestinian or Arab captive who went missing on Lebanese soil. If someone else had bore this responsibility we would have stood aside. We are not competing with anyone. Since the Israeli invasion of 1982, we’ve been viewing the resistance as a duty that we must pursue. Concerning captive Yehya Skaf, the available data that we received from the Israelis was not convincing. We should deal with this case as if Skaf were still alive in Israeli jails and we should deal with this matter just as we dealt with the cases of all previous captives. There are still remains of martyrs held by the Israelis. Despite the data had given us during Operation Redwan, we will not accept their allegations and we’ll keep on working to gain back the remains of those martyrs. The same thin goes for the missing. Their fate should be determined. We want them back whether they were dead or alive and we assure that we are following up the cases of the missing who were directly captured by Israeli occupation forces or handed over by the Lebanese militias that collaborated back then with Israel. In the same framework, the issue of the four Iranian diplomats remains open, not because they are Iranians but because they were kidnapped in Lebanon and therefore, the Lebanese government and people are responsible for them.”

On the formation of the new government in Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah said that Hezbollah will be at the disposal of any new government that would work on solving the aforementioned issues.

“We are not the government’s substitutes. We demand it shoulders its responsibility and we will be the auxiliary in this regard. I would like to seize the moment to praise the efforts of the captives’ families in previous stages. I would also like to praise the fists of the resistance fighters, the brave fighters of the Islamic Resistance, their martyrs, their captive fighters, their wounded fighters and their leader martyr Imad Moghniyeh. The cause of the captives has two part: the captives themselves and the sufferings of their families. I don’t know how the Arab world deals with this issue at the level of government and in the media. I admit that I am personally emotional and I used to cry whenever I had to meet a family of a captive fighter or the children of a martyr. What’s more painful is to see those captives still behind Israeli bars and what’s more humiliating for this whole Arab nation is the scene of those captives still lying in Israeli jails. This is a stigma on the face of this nation which we are part of and we feel this shame. The whole world understands the July aggression on Lebanon where thousands were killed and wounded and more than a million people displaced. Does Israel have the right to destroy Lebanon for two captured soldiers that Hezbollah had unlawfully taken them, as they claim? The world also understands the war on Gaza for the sake of Gilad Shalit. But instead of punishing Israel, they pressure Hamas to release Shalit. Israel is an apartheid and fake nation that the whole world sympathizes with, respects and understands its criminal nature represented in killing thousands of people for the sake of one soldier. However, we are a nation that the world does not respect while thousands of our youths, men and even women remain captured in Israeli jails. Where is the Arab honor?”
“The missing Lebanese in Syria and the missing Syrians in Lebanon must be resolved through the concerned panels. This issue must be addressed by the new government and the fate of the missing must be uncovered…”

“I would like to point to a question pertaining to Hezbollah and the formation of the government. I have read in many newspapers that Hezbollah wants guarantees related to the arms of the resistance and that this demand is one of the elements that are obstructing the formation of the government. This is not true. When I met (Prime Minister-designate Saad) Hariri, I told him that we do not want guarantees for the arms of the resistance, neither from the government nor from anyone else in this world. We agreed on this, and it’s behind us because everybody agrees that this issue should be discussed at the dialogue round table. It is claimed that Hezbollah has certain concerns about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and therefore the party is obstructing the formation of the new government because it wants guarantees. This is baseless. We have never discussed this with Hariri. We do not want guarantees from anyone in this world. Even if the opposition agreed with Hariri to form a government without Hezbollah being represented in it, I, Hasan Nasrallah, declare that I will support it.”

“Security challenges and spy networks have unfortunately caused lots of noise in the country, but those networks are not done with yet. I demand security apparatuses to make the same effort as before elections to dismantle spy networks. This is a serious issue that is part of the regional situation, from Netanyahu to Lieberman to naturalization of Palestinians to the threats to transform Palestine into a Jewish state…
These are major issues and Lebanon is affected more than any other country. This is why we need a government of real partnership and we are open on many options. What’s important is that we reach a real formula that leads to partnership and cooperation. I suggested to Hariri that since they constitute the majority in parliament, they can form a government of real partnership so we can try you and you can try us in a government that would face the dangers. I also told him that the Prime Minister can resign at any time and the government will become invalid; moreover the majority in parliament can give its vote of no confidence at any time. Showing the good will by both parties is required at this stage. Our country has lived through dangerous divisions and faced serious challenges. Today we have a chance to overcome our divisions but what we need is courage to take the decision. I advise that no one pressures Hariri with a time limit. Forming the government is worth taking the time this process needs to take and we are open on dialogue and partnership. Today the vast majority of the people wants calm in Lebanon, so let’s reach an understanding. Unfortunately, there are certain sides that are not at ease with the atmosphere of calm, this is why they escalate in the media. They must reassess their choices because people and dialogue and understanding.”