Is North Korea ready to talk? Moscow meeting may be first step

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will travel to Moscow next week, in what may be a step toward resuming the six-party talks North Korea walked out of in 2009.

By Reuters / June 29, 2013

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un (center) visits the February 11 Factory at the Ryongsong Machine Complex. North Korean media has reported a representative will meet with Russian officials in Moscow to discuss the possibility of nuclear talks.

KCNA/Reuters

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North?Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will meet senior Russian officials in?Moscow?next week, state media reported, amid signs of a new push to get?Pyongyang?to re-join protracted talks over ending its atomic program.

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Kim Kye-gwan,?North?Korea's?First Deputy?Foreign Minister, will meet deputy foreign ministers?Vladimir Titov?and Igor Morgulov on Thursday "as part of efforts to resume the six-party talks," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The reclusive Asian state walked out of the discussions with?South?Korea, the?United States,?Japan,?Russia?and its main ally China in 2009 and has often said it will never abandon its nuclear weapons, calling them its "treasured sword."

But in a flurry of statements and visits this month,?North?Korea?has offered to hold talks with the?United States?to ease tension that spiked this year when the?North?threatened the?United States?and?South?Korea?with nuclear war.

During a trip to?Beijing?last week,?Kim Kye-gwan?said the denuclearisation of the peninsula was the "dying wish" of?North?Korea's founder.

The?White House?has said any talks must involve action by the?North?to show it is moving toward disarmament. Washington has been sceptical of?Pyongyang?move's towards dialogue in the past, saying it has repeatedly backtracked on deals.

The?Obama administration?kept up the pressure on?North?Korea?this week by saying it was imposing sanctions on the country's Daedong Credit Bank for its role in supporting?Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction programme.

The U.N. Security Council has also imposed a variety of sanctions on?North?Korea?for?Pyongyang's three nuclear tests and numerous missile launches, including an embargo on the import and export of nuclear and?missile technology?and a ban on all arms exports.

A spokesman from?Russia'?Foreign Ministry?declined to comment on the RIA Novosti report published late on Friday. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/xfAJaKRSGEI/Is-North-Korea-ready-to-talk-Moscow-meeting-may-be-first-step

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