N.K., U.S. find common ground on resuming denuclearization talks: KCNA

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday that it reached some common
ground with the U.S. on the need to resume stalled multilateral denuclearization
talks during a high-level meeting with Washington's top envoy to the communist
nation.
Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, finished a
three-day trip to Pyongyang on Thursday, though without obtaining the North's
commitment to return to the six-party talks.
An unidentified spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said in an
interview with the North's Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) that both sides held
"practical and frank discussions" and had an opportunity to establish a "deep
understanding," the KCNA reported.
The meeting produced a "common understanding on the need to resume the six-party
talks," the report said. The multilateral forum, involving the United States,
Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas, has been deadlocked over international
sanctions imposed after North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.
The KCNA also quoted the spokesman as saying that both sides agreed on the
importance of implementing the 2005 joint statement, which calls for the North's
nuclear dismantlement in return for provision of massive economic aid,
normalization of ties between the North and the U.S. and Japan, and the
establishment of a peace regime to replace the armistice signed at the end of
Korean War in 1953.
North Korea and the U.S. also agreed to further cooperate to narrow their
differences, the spokesman said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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