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N Korea 'removes nuclear seals' North Korea has removed UN nuclear watchdog seals from a key atomic facility, the organisation has said. Pyongyang had said it would reactivate the Yongbyon plant amid disputes over a disarmament-for-aid deal. North Korea said Washington had not removed it, as promised, from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The removal of similar seals in December 2002 sparked a long-running crisis which resulted in Pyongyang testing an atomic weapon in 2006. Pyongyang was expecting to be removed from the US terror list after finally submitting a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities to the...

North Korea Reassembling Nuclear Center, U.S. Officials Say Tuesday , September 02, 2008 ADVERTISEMENT WASHINGTON — North Korea, after halting the disassembly of a key nuclear center, is now putting the center back together in violation of the United States' conditions for improved diplomatic relations between the countries, U.S. officials told FOX News on Tuesday. The motive isn't clear but sources say North Koreans likely are reassembling nuclear facilities at Yongbyon partly to protest the United States' delay in taking the country off its list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. "They've been threatening this move for some time," one U.S. official told...

North Korea to suspend nuclear disablement 48 minutes ago North Korea said on Tuesday it would suspend disablement of its nuclear facilities and consider restoring the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, accusing the United States of violating a disarmament deal. "We have decided to immediately suspend disabling our nuclear facilities," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. "This measure has been effective on August 14 and related parties have been notified of it," the official said. Regional powers have been pressing North Korea to accept stringent measures to verify the declaration it made in July of its...

U.S. Ready to Ease Sanctions on N. Korea Pyongyang Would Have to Acknowledge Evidence About Nuclear Activities By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 11, 2008; A15 The United States is prepared to lift two key economic sanctions against North Korea under a tentative deal reached with that country this week, which requires Pyongyang to acknowledge U.S. concerns and evidence about a range of nuclear activities, U.S. and Asian diplomats said yesterday. The agreement also requires North Korea to finish disabling its main nuclear facility and provide a full accounting of its stockpile of plutonium. But, in a...

A Ticking Clock on N. Korea By David Ignatius Sunday, March 23, 2008; B07 For many months, Bush administration officials have been imagining a valedictory conclusion to their long-running negotiations with North Korea: Pyongyang would make a "complete and correct declaration" about its nuclear program, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to North Korea to celebrate normalization of relations with a former member of the "axis of evil." But the North Korea breakthrough isn't happening, and administration officials know they are running out of time before President Bush leaves office. The New York Philharmonic has come and gone...

N. Korea talks left out details January 23, 2008 By Bill Gertz - North Korea's recent discussions with the United States about a required declaration under the six-nation nuclear talks omitted key data on Pyongyang's current nuclear arsenal and its covert uranium enrichment program, U.S. officials say. The failure to provide the information in a formal declaration, combined with North Korea's Jan. 4 public statement asserting it already made the declaration, left the four years of talks frozen amid newly disclosed intelligence showing North Korea at one time had equipment with traces of 90 percent enriched uranium, said officials who...

N Korea threatens to scrap nuke deal Article from: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Seoul July 13, 2007 02:55pm NORTH Korea's military warned today that a deal to disarm its nuclear programme could be scrapped if the US keeps "pressurising" the country, the official KCNA news agency reported. The North will step up efforts to protect itself from a "US nuclear attack and pre-emptive strike" if the US keeps "pressurising the DPRK under the pretext of the nuclear issue," it said. "In that case, it is as clear as noonday that neither the implementation of the February 13 agreement nor...

North Korea says Japan unfit for nuclear talks By Reuters Sunday July 1, 09:30 PM SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused Japan on Sunday of trying to disband a pro-Pyongyang group of ethnic Koreans and said Tokyo's "dastardly" behaviour casts doubts whether it is fit to sit at six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme. North Korea has previously discredited Japan's role at the six-way talks, which also group South Korea, Russia, China and the United States, but agreed in a February nuclear disarmament deal to work on improving ties with Tokyo. A Tokyo court in June cleared the way for...

N. Korea nuclear talks break down POSTED: 4:08 a.m. EDT, March 22, 2007 BEIJING, China (AP) -- Talks on disarming North Korea's nuclear program broke down abruptly on Thursday with the country's chief nuclear envoy departing for home after a dispute over money frozen in a Macau bank could not be resolved. Kim Kye Gwan went to Beijing's airport after refusing to take part in six-party talks on ways to push forward a February agreement calling for North Korea to give up its nuclear program in return for energy aid and political considerations. Kim waved to reporters when he arrived...

U.S. bemoans lost chance at North Korea talks By Lindsay Beck and Jack Kim 1 hour, 8 minutes ago Talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear threat languished on Wednesday as Pyongyang waited to receive freed funds, prompting delegates to warn that the chance to press forward a disarmament plan was being lost. The three-day session that began on Monday was meant to focus on steering forward a February 13 deal which called on North Korea to shut its main nuclear reactor and accept other disarmament steps in 60 days in return for economic aid and security assurances. But impoverished...

(4th LD) Six-party nuclear talks stalled due to N. Korean boycott (ATTN: UPDATES with six-party talks stalled, minor changes; CHANGES headline) By Byun Duk-kun BEIJING, March 20 (Yonhap) -- Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program stalled again Tuesday after the North refused to participate until its frozen funds at a Macau bank are released. An afternoon session of the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks was cancelled due to the North Korean boycott, according to Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's chief nuclear envoy.

NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR THREAT / Gaps seen in Japan, U.S. policies The Yomiuri Shimbun An agreement adopted at the latest round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program stipulates two-phase measures toward Pyongyang's denuclearization in return for energy support. This second series of articles on the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear program, following the first series carried last month, takes a close look at the background to the agreement reached at the six-party talks. This is the fourth installment of the series. After the U.S.-North Korea talks in Berlin from Jan. 16 to 18, Japan and the United...

/begin my translation Bolton, "Bush's Compromise with N. Korea , a Sad Development" Interview with Chosun Ilbo: "N. Korea would not give up nuke... Kim Jong-il regime should be eliminated." Washington = Huh Yong-bum 2007.02.16 23:22 After 'Feb. 13 Deal on N. Korean nuke,' John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to U.N., has become the figure getting most attention in U.S. As soon as Beijing agreement was announced, he came out, saying, "It is flatly wrong," squarely criticizing George W. Bush. This tough stance is being talked about again and again (in the media.) In an interview with Chosun...

Kim Jong-il ‘Told Top Nuke Negotiator to Be Confident’ Usually reliable insiders on Thursday claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told the nation's top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan the North can relax after developing nuclear weapons and to conduct negotiations with the U.S. in a confident manner. The sources in Seoul and Beijing said Kim would have said something along the lines of, “We don't have to worry about our security any more. There won't be a war. You go and see whether the U.S. is really ready to be our friend,” before sending him off to six-party talks about...

Washington Proposes North Korea Begin Denuclearization within 2 Months The US is said to have proposed to North Korea that it take early steps toward denuclearizing within the next two months. Citing sources in Washington, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports the US spelled out what those steps are last week at the six-party nuclear talks in Beijing. Washington wants Pyeongyang to first freeze its nuclear plant in Yongbyon and to reallow international nuclear inspectors into the communist country. The chief US envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill reportedly told his North Korean counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister...

6-party talks end, entering recess (Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING INFO) The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions ended Friday after five days of negotiations in Beijing and entered a recess, the chief Chinese delegate said in a chairman's statement. Reading out the statement, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said, "The parties have reaffirmed their common goal and will in striving for the peaceful goal of denuclearization the Korean Peninsula." "We will carry out the commitments specified in the September 2005 statement and will take coordinated steps to achieve those goals," Wu said. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said the...

U.S. promises to guarantee N. Korea's security if it dismantles nukes SEOUL, Dec. 14 KYODO The United States has told North Korea it will guarantee the country's security in writing if North Korea takes concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday. The United States made the offer when chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan met in Beijing late last month, Yonhap quoted diplomatic sources as saying. In the Beijing talks, the United States reiterated it has no intention of attacking North Korea and is willing to...

US Wants to Block All of N. Korea's Financial Deals By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter A ranking U.S. official said in New York on Monday that the international community should ensure that all rogue states’ financial activities are stopped, whether they are ``seemingly legitimate or illicit.’’ Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said that financial institutions must implement effective programs, including targeted financial sanctions, to combat threats from terrorist groups and proliferators of weapons of mass destruction such as North Korea. His remarks came as the six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programs set to...

N Korea 'refusing to restart' nuke talks From correspondents in Moscow December 06, 2006 SIX-way talks on North Korea cannot restart this year or in the foreseeable future because of "unacceptable" US conditions, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a North Korean diplomatic source as saying today. "The demands the United States put forward at consultations between the heads of delegations to the six-way talks ... which took place in Beijing on November 28 and 29, are unacceptable for North Korea," the agency quoted the source as saying. "As a result, the renewal of the negotiation process in December 2006 is...

N.Korea Six Party talks unlikely before '07: Russia 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev said on Tuesday the next meeting of the Six Party talks on North Korea was unlikely to take place before 2007, Interfax news agency reported. Reclusive North Korea has agreed to return to the stalled talks -- also including South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia -- which it had boycotted for a year. Some had expected the talks to resume in December. "Taking into consideration the coming Christmas holidays, every day the possibility that the talks will restart...

No date set for N Korea nuke talks From correspondents in Beijing November 29, 2006 09:15pm THE US, China, and North Korea agreed today to reconvene six-nation talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs "as soon as possible", China said, without giving a date. A statement released by China's Foreign Ministry said envoys from the three nations held "frank discussions" on the issue in Beijing today. "The three sides agreed to strive to convene the next round of six-party talks at an early date and to achieve positive progress," said the statement, which gave no other details. It was not...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Another Nuclear Test Likely in Late Dec. or Early Next Year (SK opposition lawmaker) Kim Jong-il's internal directive, "Act Confidently at 6-party talks as a nuclear power." [2006-11-29 11:34 ] There are reportedly indications that N. Korea would go for another nuclear test in late December or early next year. Chung Hyung-geun, an opposition lawmaker at Intelligence Committee of National Assembly, maintained on Nov. 29, "Various indications have been picked up which show that, if U.S. does not agree to lift economic sanctions, including unfreezing of (N. Korean) accounts at Banco Delta Asia, N. Korea...

Report: N. Korea won't abandon nukes 1 hour, 14 minutes ago A senior North Korean diplomat strongly indicated that his country has no plans to abandon nuclear weapons, despite its agreement to return to six-nation disarmament talks, according to news reports Wednesday. North Korea's deputy foreign minister, Kang Sok Ju, speaking to a group of reporters while passing through Beijing from Russia, instead demanded that the United States lift financial sanctions against the North, Japan's NHK television and Kyodo News agency said. Kang said North Korea had not tested nuclear weapons only to get rid of them, the reports said....

China Drowning In A 'Swamp Called N. Korea'/begin my translation China Drowning In A 'Swamp Called N. Korea'Huh Min "This is really depressing," deplores a reputable ethnic Korean professor teaching political science at a prestigious educational institution in Beijing, China, when he met the reporter on July 13. The comment reflects the sense of resignation that China has tried everything to defuse N. Korean missile crisis as if its life depended on it, but failed in the end, rendering all possible means useless. His comment was full of disappointment at N. Korea, his grandfather's country, and Kim Jong-il regime.Truly, the dismay and embarrassment Chinese authorities...

U.S. Stance Hardening Against North JULY 10, 2006 03:03 by Jung-Ahn Kim, Myoung-Gun Lee (credo@donga.com gun43@donga.com) On July 9, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator for the six-party talks, referred to a series of missiles launched by North Korea as “Intimidation targeting not only the U.S. but also all [neighboring countries].” Hill, who is on his visit to participating countries of the six-party talks after the North Korean missile launch, reiterated so in an interview on the day with the Dong-A Ilbo at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Korea in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul...

N.Korea’s Nuke Negotiator Digs In After Snub from U.S. North Korean chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan talks to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday. Hill Snubs N.Korea’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator In N.K. Diplomacy, Seoul Rushes in Where Others Fear to Tread Why N.Korea Insists on Getting Its US$24 Million Back North Korea's chief delegate in stalled six-party talks on the country's nuclear ambitions has hinted a continuing delay in the talks is no problem for Pyongyang since it can always make more nuclear weapons. Kim Kye-gwan said the North can “always take stronger measure” after being snubbed by his U.S. counterpart...

U.S. Nuke Negotiator Has Nothing to Say to N.Korea The U.S. representative in stalled six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Christopher Hill, on Monday reiterated he has no plans for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart, who is attending the same forum in Tokyo. Arriving to take part in the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) meeting, Hill told reporters the aim was not to arrange a bilateral meeting but to persuade North Korea to come back to the six-party negotiations. The assistant secretary of state said discussions with North Korea had already been held in January in Beijing...

Kim Jong-il to Make Ground-Breaking Indonesia Trip North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will visit Indonesia in the near future after accepting an invitation from a special envoy for the Indonesian president, Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan reported Friday. Pyongyang has also asked Jakarta to act as a mediator in six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the North’s nuclear program. Presidential envoy Nana Sutresna, who visited both Pyongyang and Seoul recently, invited Kim to visit Indonesia “at an appropriate time,” and Indonesian officials said Kim was “willing to accept” the invitation, the weekly reported. Kim’s visit to Indonesia would be his first to...

March 10, 2006 U.S. Squeezes North Korea's Money Flow By JOEL BRINKLEY WASHINGTON, March 9 — Six months after the Bush administration blacklisted a bank in Macao accused of laundering money for the North Korean government, senior administration officials say the action has proved to be far more effective than anyone had dreamed. Banks around the world are limiting their dealings with North Korea, and the nation's leadership is complaining with a vigor unusual even for that government. "It really struck a nerve," a senior administration official said with a smile. It also has given new energy to those in...

N. Korea Sets Terms for Return to Nuclear Talks By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 9, 2006; Page A16 In a rare meeting between U.S. and North Korean officials this week, North Korea pressed the United States to end efforts to stem alleged money-laundering and counterfeiting activities, warning that otherwise it would not return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear programs. Li Gun, the senior North Korean official at the meeting, made four requests, according to a U.S. official familiar with the talks. They included demanding that the United States remove what he called "financial sanctions,"...

North Korea's Kim Jong-Il visits China: reports SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has travelled to China by special train on a rare visit to the isolated country's key ally, according to media reports here. ADVERTISEMENT The train carrying the reclusive North Korean leader passed through the Chinese border town of Dandong amid tight security before dawn on Tuesday, reports quoted unidentified sources as saying. "The scene was quite similar to one in April 2004, when Kim Jong-il visited China by a special train," Yonhap news agency quoted a source as saying. South Korea's National Intelligence Agency told...

Saturday October 22, 5:34 PM Hill likely to give up visiting N. Korea, faces U.S. hard-liners (Kyodo) _ Christopher Hill, the top U.S. negotiator for the six-party nuclear talks, is likely to give up his plan to visit North Korea before the six meet for the fifth round in early November, U.S. and other six-party sources said Saturday. The sources attributed it to the tough conditions set by hard-liners in the U.S. administration who are insisting on the need for the visit to produce such concrete results as Pyongyang halting operations at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. A U.S. congressional source...

Seoul Denies Hill Chafed at Energy Offer to N.Korea The Foreign Ministry on Friday denied reports that the U.S chief negotiator in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program accused Seoul of undermining negotiations in the last round. A Japanese daily earlier reported Christopher Hill told a closed-door seminar that South Korea’s offer of massive energy aid to the North was making things too easy for Pyongyang. However, the ministry official on Friday conceded that “the negative view toward Seoul’s role in negotiations with Pyongyang is widespread in Washington.” Government officials involved in the six-party talks expect negotiators to make...

September 20, 2005 Yes, Parallel Tracks to North, but Parallel Tracks Don't Meet By DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 - After four years of bitter arguments over whether to negotiate with North Korea or try to engineer its collapse, the accord President Bush grudgingly approved Sunday evening provided the bare minimum - an agreement in principle that the North would end a five-decade pursuit of nuclear weapons, the only card the erratic nation has to play to get the world to pay attention to its demands. But even to get that, Mr. Bush had to blink slightly, acknowledging that...

Will Agreement Shake Cooperation Between Seoul and WashingtonThe second part of the fourth round of the six-party talks, which reconvened on Sept. 13, went through considerable ups and downs prior to the announcement of a joint statement Monday. The South Korean government spent the last week engaging in last-moment negotiations to find an agreement over the light-water reactor issue, which North Korea would not abandon to the end, despite considerable tensions between Seoul and Washington. Some, however, are wondering whether Seoul’s assumption of a mediating role between the United States and North Korea might become a burden on South Korea-U.S....

Six-Party Talks Grind On Six-party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear dispute ground into their third day in Beijing on Thursday with few signs of any progress as North Korea reportedly continued to insist it should be given civilian-use light-water reactors. An official connected to the talks said things were unclear and there was little hope of a breakthrough. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill leaves his hotel in Beijing on Thursday to attend a conference of top negotiators of the six-party talks, which aim to resolve the North Korean...

/begin my translationSankei, "N. Korea to Provide Nuclear Warhead Info to a Mid-East Country" Tokyo, Yonhap News 2005/09/15N. Korean military is dead set against 6-party talks, and is still passing to a friendly Mid-East country (technical) information on (miniaturized) nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles, according to a report by Sankei Shimbun (of Japan,) dispatched from Beijing on Sept. 15 (2005.) Sankei quoted an intelligence source, which said that, for more than a year, a senior figure of N. Korean military has been passing data on their implosion device of nuclear warhead to a military attache at the embassy of the Mid-East country in Pyongyang.  The source claimed, "N. Korea would not (ordinarily) share...

US adopts tough stand ahead of nuclear talks with North KoreaFri Sep 9, 7:22 PM ET The United States adopted a tough stand ahead of talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, saying it would not compromise on the hardline communist state's request to maintain peaceful atomic activities. "Our opposition has been very clear on this. What North Korea has to do is get out of the nuclear business," said Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator to the six-party talks due to resume in Beijing on Tuesday. "Nuclear weapons, nuclear programs are not something that one should leave...

N.Korean Mouthpiece Says Free Electricity not EnoughThe mouthpiece of a pro-Pyongyang Korean residents association in Japan on Friday said Seoul's proposal to supply the North with free electricity "may create an environment conducive to resolving the nuclear issue but will not be a motive for abandoning nuclear weapons." North Korea has not commented on the South’s "important proposal," but the Choson Sinbo bimonthly is usually a fairly accurate gauge of official sentiment in Pyongyang. The comments come 10 days after the proposal was made public and a few days ahead of the resumption of six-party talks on the nuclear dispute....

/begin my translationN. Korean Central TV announced that N. Korea and U.S. agreed to have the 4th round of 6-party talks in the week of July 25. /end my translation

Japan says patience running thin on N.Korea talks04 Jul 2005 08:05:02 GMT Source: Reuters TOKYO, July 4 (Reuters) - Patience is running out for North Korea's return to stalled talks on its nuclear arms programme, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Monday, adding that Tokyo was neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the likelihood the negotiations would resume soon. "In some quarters there is a very optimistic view and they probably have their basis for that, but the Japanese government is neither extremely optimistic nor extremely pessimistic," Machimura told Reuters in an interview. "Soon, we will reach the limits of...

US says no to N Korea nuclear talks in NYAgence France-Presse Washington, July 1, 2005 The State Department poured cold water on Thursday on reports that US and North Korean officials might meet outside a conference in New York to try to revive talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Asian diplomats had said they expected State Department officials Joseph DeTrani and Jim Foster and senior North Korean diplomat Ri Gun to discuss the nuclear issue outside a two-day academic conference opening today. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that "no meetings are scheduled between US and North Korean officials...

/begin my translation [Exclusive]  AEI, Influential to Bush Admin., Proposes 'Ending Alliance with S. Korea'  American Enterprise Institute... If N. Korea refuses to return to 6-party talk, it recommends a preemptive strike.It is confirmed that S. Korean government is anti-American...argues for the withdrawal of American troops The cover of July-August Issue of 'The American Enterprise.' With the picture of horrific nuclear explosion, it features as the Current Issue Highlights, 'Nip It Now: Avoiding a nightmare in N. Korea.' American Enterprise Institute(AEI), instrumental for creating the Bush administration, which maintains enormous influence over administration policies, urged the new policy as an alternative to 6-party talk, to resolve N....

North Korea Complains About Bush MeetingBy BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 23, 6:38 AM ET SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea condemned President Bush for meeting a prominent defector detained as a child in a prison camp, saying Thursday the move chilled the atmosphere for a return to nuclear disarmament talks. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, a high-ranking North Korean delegation in Seoul held a rare meeting with South Korea's president as the two sides discussed family reunions and military contacts across their Cold War border. The talks between the divided Koreas are running alongside efforts to coax the North back...

North Korea making 'excuses' for not returning to talks: Rice 37 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - North Korean officials "love to make excuses" for their continued absence at six-party talks aimed at ending the Stalinist state's nuclear standoff, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. Rice added that the United States was ready to listen to North Korea when it sets a date for returning to the talks, which also include South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. "The North Koreans love to make excuses for why they can't come to the six-party talks," she told Fox News Sunday when asked...

Friday June 17, 10:03 PMU.S. looks for action, not words from N. Korea(Kyodo) _ The United States is looking for action, not words, from North Korea on its return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions, and will not accept any preconditions on Pyongyang's return to the negotiating table, the State Department said Friday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Friday that Pyongyang would return to the multinational talks as early as July, but conditioned the return on the United States treating it with respect as a partner, according to South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong Young. Young...

Enveloped in a nuclear fog By HARVEY STOCKWIN HONG KONG -- Any day now the mere oscillation of a seismograph needle could precipitate uncertainties and greatly increase tensions: North Korea may become the second East Asian nation to shock the world with an underground nuclear test explosion, just as China did at Lop Nor in 1964. At the end of April the Bush administration informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and several allied nations that an underground test was being prepared by the North Koreans and could take place as early as June. Governments made sure that their...

Rice: N. Korea Must Talk About Dismantling By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer Thu Jun 16, 4:35 PM ET WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday it isn't enough for North Korea to return to six-nation disarmament talks but that it should commit to discuss dismantling its nuclear program. "The ball is in the North Koreans' court," Rice said as she prepared to embark on a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe. Talks between North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan have been on hold for a year because Pyongyang has boycotted...

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050617/610000000020050617142114E2.html(5th LD) Kim Jong-il meets visiting South Korean officialPYONGYANG, June 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held a rare meeting with a South Korean official Friday but there was no indication that their discussions included the ongoing tension over the communist country's nuclear program. South Korean officials in Pyongyang, the North's capital, confirmed the luncheon meeting between their unification minister, Chung Dong-young and Kim but provided few other details. Also invited to the luncheon were several former South Korean officials whom the North Korean leader had met. They included Lim Dong-won and Park Jae-kyu who served as unification...

N.Korea rejects new nuclear talks unless US meets unspecified conditions Wed Jun 8, 9:37 AM ET SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea ruled out new talks on its nuclear ambitions unless Washington meets unspecified conditions, in a setback to efforts to resolve the standoff. The Stalinist state's official Korean Central News Agency said a fourth round of the stalled six-nation talks would take place only when the United States agrees to its demands. "As for the resumption of the six-party talks, it entirely depends on the US response to the DPRK's (North Korea's) call for creating conditions and an environment for...