Talks between North Korea and the U.S. aimed at persuading the North to return to six-party nuclear discussions will probably take place early next year, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan speculated Thursday. "It will be difficult before President Barack Obama visits [South] Korea" between Nov. 18 to 19, Yu said. "They will take place either at the end of this year or early next year."
There had been hopes that Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, would visit North Korea at the end of November, but that now seems unlikely.
Yu returned to Seoul on Thursday from a tour of the Middle East. "An important factor is that the United States wants to take things slowly," he told reporters at the airport. "If the U.S. and North Korea encounter no difficulties, then China will convene the six-party talks. But China's intervention will be needed when the envoys of Washington and Pyongyang find themselves in an awkward atmosphere." |