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WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. envoy will hold talks this month in Beijing with North Korea, resuming a dialogue put on hold last year by the death of leader Kim Jong-Il, the State Department said Feb. 13.
Glyn Davies, the coordinator for U.S. policy in North Korea, will meet in Beijing on Feb. 23 with North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
The United States has been exploring a resumption of six-nation denuclearization talks with North Korea but has insisted that Pyongyang respect a 2005 agreement at the talks to give up its atomic weapons.
“This is a continuation of the meetings that we’ve been having with North Korea to see if it is prepared to fulfill its commitment (under six-way talks) and its international obligations as well as to take concrete steps towards denuclearization,” Nuland said.
The United States held two rounds of talks with North Korea last year in Beijing and Geneva in hopes of keeping open a dialogue, despite deep skepticism in Washington on whether the communist state will ever give up its weapons.
A third round was ready in Beijing in December but was called off after the sudden death of Kim, which left the isolated and nuclear-armed country in the hands of his untested young son Kim Jong-Un.
Before the planned last round, the United States had been discussing a request by North Korea to resume assistance in food. The country suffered a devastating famine in the 1990s and aid groups have voiced concern about new shortages.
