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US, N Korea in talks
22/05/2005 16:23 - (SA)
Seoul - North Korea on Sunday confirmed having a meeting with US officials earlier this month, and said it will continue to "closely watch the US side's attitude and will deliver its position when the time comes."
It did not elaborate.
US sate dpartment officials had said they met with North Korean officials in New York earlier this month to present Washington's position on nuclear non-proliferation, but the US side insisted that the meeting was not negotiations, and characterized it as "working-level contacts."
Officials have said the New York meeting increases the chances that Pyongyang will return to stalled six-nation talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs.
The six-way talks - which involve the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia - have been stalled since last year. North Korea is refusing to arrange a next session. The other nations have been urging Pyongyang to reconsider.
Sunday's statement from North Korea was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, and monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The meeting in New York, reportedly at the North Korean representative office at the United Nations, came as concerns are mounting that the reclusive communist North is moving toward extracting weapons-grade plutonium and could be preparing for a nuclear test.
The previous time US officials had contact with North Korean officials appeared to be in the form of a congressional delegation to Pyongyang in January, led by representative Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the house armed services committee.
- AP
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