US/North Korea/Iran - nuclear negotiations

US envoy in Pyongyang to revive nuclear talks

Article published on the 2009-12-08 Latest update 2009-12-08 11:08 TU

US envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, leaves his Seoul hotel for North Korea 8 December
(Photo: Reuters)

A US envoy has arrived in North Korea to try to bring it back to nuclear disarmament talks, in the first high-level dialogue between US President Barack Obama’s administration and the communist state. Meanwhile Iran is urging world powers to create trustworthy conditions for a nuclear fuel exchange deal.

Stephen Bosworth and his six-member team flew from the US air force base at Osan in South Korea for their three-day mission.

After months of tensions marked by a North Korean nuclear test and missile launches, Obama is using direct diplomacy to attempt to bring it back to the six-nation negotiations it quit in April.

A senior US official said in Washington that Bosworth will offer no new incentives but added that the North may be more ready to re-engage than its tough public statements suggest.

Bosworth is expected to hold talks with first vice foreign minister Kang Sok-Ju. But Seoul officials say he is unlikely to meet leader Kim Jong-Il. He is scheduled to return Thursday to Seoul, before going on to Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow.

Meanwhile Iran said Tuesday it has no faith in world powers, and called on them to create conditions which would earn Tehran's trust before it enters a nuclear fuel exchange deal.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast shrugged off threats of sanctions from some Western powers, saying this would only help Tehran gain further self-sufficiency in its atomic programme.