DTN News: North Korea Says It Is Ready To Engage With The US For Talks On Nuclear Program

DTN News: North Korea Says It Is Ready To Engage With The US For Talks On Nuclear Program *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) PYONGYANG, North Korea - August 15, 2009: North Korea says it is ready to engage with the US amid recently-expressed willingness by Washington to enter direct talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

North Korea is claimed to have an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and claims to possess nuclear weapons. The CIA asserts that North Korea also has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons. North Korea was a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but withdrew in 2003, citing the failure of the United States to fulfill its end of the Agreed Framework, a 1994 agreement between the states to limit North Korea's nuclear ambitions, begin normalization of relations, and help North Korea supply some energy needs through nuclear reactors. On October 9, 2006, the North Korean government issued an announcement that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. Both the United States Geological Survey and Japanese seismological authorities detected an earthquake with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 4.2 in North Korea, corroborating some aspects of the North Korean claims. In April 2009, reports surfaced that North Korea has become a "fully fledged nuclear power", an opinion shared by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. On May 25, 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, which is believed to have been the cause of a magnitude 4.7 seismic event. Although there is no official information about the test’s location it is believed that it happened in the north-eastern region near Kilju, the site of North Korea's first nuclear test.

"We always keep the door open to negotiations," Reuters quoted Kim Yong-Il, a vice minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry, as saying in Hanoi on Friday on the sidelines of the second annual vice-ministerial policy exchange between the North and Vietnam.

This was the first time since the visit by the former US President Bill Clinton to the country last week, that a high-ranking North official used a foreign meeting to make such comments. Clinton, meeting North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il, successfully brokered the release of two US journalists held since March on suspicion of illegal entry.

Earlier on Sunday following Clinton's visit, US officials hinted at their willingness to hold direct talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear program.

Despite deeming as dead the six-party talks, North Korea has expressed its readiness to enter negotiations with the US based on diplomacy. Pyongyang maintains that Washington should first abandon its hostile attitude.

The US and international efforts have failed to convince the North to abandon its nuclear program, which Washington perceives as illicit.

Pyongyang says it has "no choice" but to maintain its nuclear arsenal in the face of the strategic threat posed by the United States.