N. Korea cites a route to talks
BEIJING - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told the visiting Chinese premier yesterday that his country was willing to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations provided progress is made in direct talks with the United States, according to Chinese and North Korean state media.
The remark came on the second day of a three-day visit by Premier Wen Jiabao and marks a potential softening of a stance by North Korea, which walked away from six-nation talks in April and then announced it had restarted a nuclear reactor and conducted bomb and missile tests. The reclusive communist state is under strict UN sanctions.
In July, officials in Pyongyang said they were open to renewing dialogue on nuclear disarmament. North Korea, which favors bilateral talks with the US, then said it would welcome a US envoy. The Obama administration would prefer North Korea to rejoin the six-nation talks, which also involve China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the US wants the multilateral talks to result in a verifiable end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported today that North Korea appeared to be in the final phase of restoring a nuclear facility that was disabled in 2007.
