NORTH KOREA said it understood the need for talks to resume on its nuclear programme and that it would continue to co-operate with the US to resolve “remaining differences”.
The announcement yesterday, which is being seen as a breakthrough after a year-long deadlock, follows a three-day visit to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. by President Barack Obama’s special envoy Stephen Bosworth.
“Both sides agreed to continue to co-operate with each other in the future to narrow down the remaining differences,” a statement from North Korea’s foreign ministry noted.
“The two sides were able to deepen the mutual understanding, narrowed their differences and found considerable common ground,” the North Koreans said.
There is no firm commitment in the statement, but it is a positive step towards resuming six-nation negotiations involving both Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and host China.
However, the statement did note how both sides “also reached a series of common understandings of the need to resume the six-party talks and the importance of implementing” a 2005 disarmament pact, which calls for North Korea to end its nuclear programmes in exchange for fuel and financial aid, security assurances and diplomatic recognition.
It’s the first forward step since North Korea expelled UN nuclear inspectors and carried out an atomic test blast in May, declaring the six-party talks as dead and insisting that any future dialogue would be with the US only.
Since then, relations with the international community have been generally tense, made even more so by UN sanctions that have hit the impoverished regime hard.
China, however, has sent numerous envoys to Pyongyang to put pressure on its neighbour, with whom it maintains friendly relations, to return to talks.
China is chairing the talks and is keen to play “honest broker” on the issue of removing nuclear arms from the Korean peninsula.
Signs that the sanctions might be working include the freeing of detained American and South Korean citizens and other gestures, such as inviting Mr Bosworth for direct talks.
In Washington, secretary of state Hillary Clinton described the meeting as “quite positive” for a preliminary round of talks.
Mr Bosworth will brief officials in Tokyo, Beijing and Moscow about the talks before heading back to Washington.