Seoul (South Korea): A top North Korean
nuclear envoy will visit the United States for rare bilateral
talks next month, a news report said on Friday as diplomats pushed
to revive negotiations on ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Plans call for North Korea's Kim Kye Gwan to travel to
the US in March, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported
from Beijing, citing an unidentified source. In Washington,
State Department spokesman Fred Lash said late yesterday that
he had not seen the report.
A bilateral meeting between the North Korean envoy and US
officials would be a strong sign that the push to get the
disarmament talks back on track was gaining traction. It would
also confirm a warming in relations between the US and North
Korea, wartime rivals that do not have diplomatic relations.
North Korea, believed to have enough weaponised plutonium
for at least half a dozen atomic bombs, walked away from
disarmament-for-aid negotiations last year during a standoff
over its nuclear and missile programs.
However, after tightened sanctions and financial
isolation, the impoverished nation has reached out to
Washington, Seoul and Beijing in recent months.
Earlier, spokesman P J Crowley said US officials haven't
ruled out future meetings with the North Koreans, but "we
believe firmly that the next meeting that US representatives
and others should have with North Korea is through a formal
six-party meeting."
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 12, 2010, 17:58