North Korea and US talking
February 23, 2012
The US and North Korea resumed direct talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program in Beijing on Thursday after the discussions were delayed by the death of Korean leader Kim Jong Il in December.
"We are still in the middle of negotiations," US Special Envoy for North Korean policy Glyn Davies said after more than five hours of talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan on Thursday, also saying that the two sides would "try to wrap up tomorrow."
"The talks today were substantive and serious and covered quite a number of the issues," Davies said, without elaborating further.
Davies also said that he considered it a "positive sign" that the new North Korean regime under Kim Jong Un had decided to return to the negotiating table relatively soon after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.
Kim's death on December 17 disrupted a deal between the US and North Korea under which Pyongyang would have stopped enriching uranium in return for much-needed food aid from Washington.
Negotiators are hoping to open the door for a resumption of the six-nation regional talks, which also involve Russia, China, South Korea and Japan. North Korea walked away from those negotiations in 2009.
USenvoy Glyn Davies was also scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei before leaving Beijing on Saturday for the South Korean capital, Seoul.
msh/acb (AFP, AP, dpa)