The United States and North Korea are likely to hold a second round of talks this month to try to revive international nuclear disarmament negotiations, a South Korean report said Sunday.
The meeting may come after a summit between US President Barack Obama and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak in Washington on October 13, an unnamed senior government official in Seoul told Yonhap news agency.
Last month the chief nuclear envoys for North and South Korea met in Beijing for discussions on how to revive long-stalled six-nation negotiations on the North's nuclear programme.
The inter-Korean discussions came after a meeting between the two sides in Bali in July which was followed by US-North Korean talks in New York.
The North abandoned the six-nation forum in April 2009, a month before staging a second nuclear test which brought worldwide condemnation and fresh United Nations sanctions.
Now all sides say they want to start talking again, especially after Pyongyang's disclosure in November last year of a uranium enrichment programme which could give it a second way to make atomic weapons.
Pyongyang has repeatedly called for talks with no strings attached. But South Korea and the United States say it must show it is serious about giving up its nuclear arsenal in return for economic, diplomatic and security benefits.
They want the North, before the talks resume, to halt its uranium enrichment programme, readmit UN nuclear inspectors and declare a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests, according to media reports.
earlier related report
N. Korea expands trips for Chinese tourists: report
Seoul (AFP) Oct 3, 2011 –
North Korea is moving to expand tourism with China after negotiations with South Korea over restarting cross-border tours to a popular resort area faltered, a report said Monday.
The isolated Communist state plans to launch tours to its Mount Kumgang region from China's northeastern city of Harbin by the end of this month, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
The North also plans to operate flights bound for Mount Kumgang from 16 cities across China, including Beijing and the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, Yonhap said.
North Korea is also looking at opening tours using a railway and expressway linking Beijing with Pyongyang and Mount Kumgang, the report said, adding that the first train tour would likely be in April.
The resort was built by a South Korean firm as a symbol of reconciliation and tours began in 1998, earning the impoverished North millions of dollars in hard currency.
Seoul's government halted tours by its citizens in 2008 when a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist who strayed into a military area.
Frustrated by stalled negotiations with Seoul, the North this year stripped South Korean developer Hyundai Asan of its exclusive right to run the tours.
It also seized hotels and other property owned by Seoul worth an estimated $300-400 million, and expelled all South Koreans from Kumgang in August.
Cross-border relations have been icy since Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a warship with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010. The North denied involvement but went on to shell a border island last November.
