(February 12, 2010) BEIJING– North Korea is not eager to return to six-party talks but has not rejected the idea, the U.N.’s top political official said on Friday following a trip to the reclusive country. “Their attitude right now, certainly they’re not happy with sanctions. They’re certainly not eager, not ruling out, but not eager [...]

(February 12, 2010) SEOUL-— A top North Korean nuclear envoy wants to visit the United States for rare talks next month, news reports said Saturday, amid a push by diplomats to revive negotiations on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Officials in Washington said no such trip was planned. North Korea is strongly pushing for Kim Kye [...]

(January 12, 2009) NEW YORK — North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday his nation is willing to conduct parallel talks on its nuclear program and on formally ending the Korean War, but only if all sanctions against it are lifted. Summoning a few reporters to North Korea’s U.N. Mission, Ambassador Sin Son Ho [...]

(January 1, 2010) North Korea has issued a New Year message calling for an end to hostile relations with the US. A statement carried in major newspapers said Pyongyang also wanted “a lasting peace system on the Korean Peninsula”. In response, a US State Department official said North Korea should show its good faith by [...]

(December 11, 2009) SEOUL– Discussing his talks with North Korea, special U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth said yesterday it isn’t clear when or how North Korea will return to the six-party talks, but the two sides had a common understanding on the need to resume the talks and to implement a prior joint agreement on denuclearization. [...]

(December 8, 2009) For more than a decade, ever since the first nuclear deal reached between the U.S. and North Korea fell apart, it has been an article of faith among Washington diplomats that with just the right configuration of carrots and sticks, Pyongyang could be enticed to stand down its nuclear weapons and begin [...]

(December 4, 2009) WASHINGTON — US envoy Stephen Bosworth will visit Pyongyang next week at the start of an Asia-Russia tour aimed at bringing North Korea back to nuclear disarmament negotiations, officials said Thursday. Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said Bosworth will arrive in the North Korean capital on Tuesday before traveling to Seoul [...]

(October 16, 2009) WASHINGTON– The United States said on Friday it would allow a senior North Korean official to visit this month, a move analysts said could be a first step toward talks between the two on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear programs. The State Department said it had decided to grant a visa to Ri Gun, [...]

(October 7, 2009) BEIJING – China’s top envoy on North Korean issues said Wednesday that Pyongyang’s readiness to hold discussions with the U.S. is a positive development that could pave the way for a resumption of stalled international talks on the North’s nuclear program. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Monday that his government is willing [...]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) — North Korea has requested that Ambassador Stephen Bosworth visit Pyongyang next month to discuss the six-party talks on the North’s denuclearization, which have been stalled over international sanctions on North Korea, diplomatic sources here said Monday. [read more]