Washington: The Obama administration on Thursday said it is willing to hold bilateral discussions with North Korea only if it leads to the resumption of six-party talks towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
"We are willing to have bilateral talks with the North Koreans if these talks are conducted in the context of the six-party talks and if they lead to the resumption of these talks," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters at his daily news conference.
The spokesman said the US believes that North Korea has to abide by the commitments that it made in 2005 to give up its nuclear weapons. "Our policy just couldn`t be clearer in that regard," he said.
Both the US and its partners in the six-party talks have said that they are willing to reengage, to get North Korea to abide by its commitments.
"We certainly don`t want to have talks that don`t lead to any sort of significant discussions," he said.
Bureau Report
