US Not to Announce Plans for NK Talks Wed., Thurs.

The U.S. State Department yesterday said it has no plans to hold bilateral dialogue with North Korea Wednesday and Thursday.

On North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s hint at returning to the six-party nuclear talks under certain conditions, a U.S. State Department official told reporters that thorough preparation and prior coordination with other parties to the talks are needed to conduct substantial dialogue with Pyongyang.

Saying an appropriate venue, time and participants should be chosen to conduct the proposed bilateral contact with North Korea, the U.S. official said members to the six-party talks agreed that bilateral talks should contribute to Pyongyang’s return to the nuclear dialogue and resumption of the denuclearization process.

Separately, U.S. State department spokesman Ian Kelly told a daily news briefing, “Regarding the statements that we saw yesterday, those are -- for the moment -- what we know is what we’ve seen in the press.”

“The Chinese officials who are in Pyongyang have only just, literally, just returned to Beijing. And our embassy in Beijing is going to seek a meeting with them, and we look forward to learning more details of what was discussed in Pyongyang regarding the six-party talks. But until then, we’re going to refrain from adding some kind of qualifier to how to characterize these talks.”

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