The international community must send a strong, coordinated message that North Korea’s new uranium enrichment activity will not be tolerated, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday, visiting Seoul amid Pyongyang’s recent efforts to resume peace talks with regional powers.

It is “very important that the international community sends a strong message” that any uranium enrichment activities by North Korea “would be inconsistent with its international obligations, U.N. Security Council resolutions and with its own commitments under the joint declaration of 2005,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said.

“The stronger we can make that message, the more we’ll be successful in persuading the North” against nuclear activities, he said in comments to reporters after a closed-door meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.

The trip by the U.S. envoy came as the two Koreas prepare to hold defense talks for the first time in months, a development that might lead to larger-scale peace talks by regional powers with the nuclear-armed North.

Unveiling a new uranium enrichment facility to a U.S. expert in November last year, North Korea has been seeking to resume the stalled multinational talks aimed at its denuclearization, which could provide it with much-needed outside food and fuel aid.

Seoul and Washington have called for a tougher international response to the uranium program, saying it violates U.N. Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear activity and the North’s own pledge made during the 2005 six-nation talks. The talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia have been stalled since 2008.

Uranium, if highly enriched, can be used to make nuclear weapons, giving Pyongyang an alternative to plutonium. The communist state has conducted two atomic tests already.

Steinberg also emphasized China, North Korea’s last-remaining ally, was with the rest of the dialogue partners on how to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and provocations.

“It was very clear ... China understands ... rebuilding trust here in South Korea is a critical first step towards being able to move forward to a more broad-based dialogue,” he said. “There is a shared view among all of us about the centrality and accordance of moving forward on the North side of the peninsula.”

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao met in Washington earlier this month, agreeing on the importance of securing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and calling inter-Korean dialogue “essential” for a step forward on the issue.

The communist North needs to “demonstrate it is sincerely prepared to step back from the provocations and to engage in a meaningful dialogue” for the stalled six-nation denuclearization talks to restart, Steinberg said.

South Korea on Wednesday proposed holding a preliminary meeting with Pyongyang on Feb. 11 to lay the groundwork for high-level consultations, during which the rivals are expected to discuss North Korea’s two deadly attacks last year.

Tensions have been running high on the divided peninsula following Pyongyang’s apparent torpedoing of a South Korean warship last March, killing dozens of sailors, and shelling of a border island in November, killing two soldiers and two civilians.

Officially proposing the defense talks with Seoul last week, North Korea said it has taken “a firm stance to resolve” all pending military issues with the South, including the sinking of the warship Cheonan and the bombing of Yeonpyeong Island, in the high-level talks.

Agreeing to talk, Seoul remains wary of North Korea’s intentions as regional powers are watching closely to see whether the upcoming inter-Korean talks will lead to resumption of the long-suspended denuclearization dialogue.

Washington and Seoul have been firm not to resume the six-party talks until Pyongyang first solves issues with South Korea.

“Our views are very much in sync, that we are working together enormously effectively indeed,” Steinberg said, calling the U.S.-South Korea relationship a “sticky rice cake.”

The senior diplomat will also travel to Japan and China to follow up on Obama’s meeting with Hu, according to the U.S. State Department.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)