NEW YORK – The US and North Korea have begun exploratory talks in which Washington is looking for concrete signs that Pyongyang is ready to discuss its nuclear programme after a more than two-year hiatus. The US special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, sat down yesterday with veteran North Korean nuclear negotiator and vice-foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan at the US mission to the UN in New York for discussions that were expected to continue today.
US state department spokesman Mark Toner said the talks were exploratory and Washington aimed to gauge Pyongyang’s willingness to take real steps to ease tensions and re-engage in aid-for-disarmament negotiations. “We’re quite clear, broadly, on what we’re looking for, which is for North Korea to live up to its commitments,” Mr Toner said. – (Reuters)