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N. Korea ready to restart nuke talks: US
BEIJING - Two U.S. lawmakers who visited North Korea said Saturday that Pyongyang appears ready to return to disarmament talks as promised the week of Sept. 12, but still wants a nuclear reactor — a key sticking point. AP reported
North Korea said earlier it would return to six-nation talks the week of Sept. 12 following a postponement that it blamed on U.S.-South Korean military exercises and Washington's appointment of a human rights envoy to monitor the North. The talks also include South Korea, host China, Japan and Russia. Leach said North Korean officials affirmed their desire for a light-water nuclear reactor as part of a peaceful nuclear program, an issue that deadlocked the last session of talks in August. The North says it should be allowed to operate a peaceful nuclear program for power generation. But Washington has expressed skepticism that the North can be trusted with nuclear technology. "Clearly the North Korean desire is for a light-water reactor, and the North Korean desire is to retain a peaceful nuclear program," Leach said at a news conference. Leach and Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said they had about 25 hours of meetings with North Korean officials during their five-day visit. They met with Kim Gye Gwan, the chief North Korean nuclear envoy; Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and other government and military officials, according to a statement released by their delegation.
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