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North Korea Says Wants More Talks With U.S.

IN THIS ISSUE: N. Korea says wants more talks with U.S., Arab states set aside IAEA bid to pressure Israel, Myanmar lacks 'economic strength' to develop nuke arms, a giant nuclear project awaits its federal loans, Germany can do without nuclear power, decoding the NPT.

Published on September 22, 2011
 

North Korea says wants more talks with U.S.

Jeremy Laurence | Reuters

Wi Sung-lac

North Korea wants to hold a second round of dialogue with the United States, possibly next month, as part of renewed efforts to restart talks on disabling the North's nuclear weapons programme, a South Korean official said on Thursday.

In a sign that the long-stalled regional talks are now firmly back in the picture, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae told reporters in Seoul that the two Koreas were closing in on agreement to reconvene the forum.

As part of the process to restart six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, officials expect shuttle diplomacy to pick up.

The South's nuclear envoy met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Thursday and urged him to persuade the North to halt its nuclear activities to allow for the resumption of the talks, the South's Yonhap news agency reported. Cho said the North's nuclear envoy Ri Yong-ho had also proposed another U.S.-North Korea meeting.

Yonhap quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying that a meeting could take place in a third country, with the cities of Singapore, Berlin and Geneva among the possible choices. Full Article   



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