US to hold N-talks with Pyongyang
October 20th, 2011 - 3:11 am ICT by IANSWashington, Oct 20 (IANS) The US will hold talks with North Korea in Geneva next week over its nuclear programme, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
“This is a continuation of the exploratory meetings to determine if North Korea is prepared to fulfill its commitments under the 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks and its international obligations, as well as take concrete steps toward denuclearization,” the State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The talks are scheduled for Oct 24-25.
“We’re seeking to see if there’s enough movement on the part of the DPRK (North Korea) to lead to, you know, further and broader talks,” he added.
US envoy for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan met in late July in New York over a possible resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks on Korean Peninsula denuclearization.
Pyongyang has said that it is ready to resume the six-party talks, a mechanism involving North and South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia.
The talks were launched in 2003, but got bogged down in December 2008 after holding six rounds. Pyongyang quit the talks in 2009.
Toner said after the New York talks, the US side felt that there was “a good atmosphere there” and saw “enough to have another round of talks”.
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Tags: china japan, commitments, concrete steps, continuation, dprk, exploratory meetings, foreign minister, international obligations, korean peninsula, kye, mark toner, north korea, north korea policy, north korean, pyongyang, resumption, six party talks, south korea, state department spokesman, xinhua