US welcomes North Korea's return to nuclear talks

The US special envoy on North Korea said Wednesday he welcomed Pyongyang's return to bilateral talks so soon after Kim Jong-Il's death, as he prepared to meet a delegation from the isolated state.

Glyn Davies, coordinator for US policy on North Korea, will hold talks about Pyongyang's nuclear programme with veteran negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan Thursday in the first substantive contact since Kim Jong-Il died in December.

"I find it a positive sign that relatively soon after the beginning of the transition in North Korea, the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) has chosen to get back to the table with us. That's a good thing," he said.

The meeting will be the third since last July. The two sides had been scheduled to meet in December but the plan was shelved after Kim's death on December 17 and the subsequent transition of power to his son Kim Jong-Un.

"What precisely his (Kim Jong-Un's) policies are, in what direction he wants to take his country -- all of these are unknowns at this stage," Davies told reporters in Beijing.

The new North Korean leader is as yet untested, and analysts say that Pyongyang may be eager to resume discussions with the United States to show that the regime is operating as it was before Kim Jong-Il's death.

"My hope is that we can find a way to move forward with the North, because it's in everyone's interest to try to get on the next phase, which will be six-party talks," Davies said.

North Korea abandoned six-nation negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme in 2009 due to what it described as US hostility, but has since called for their resumption.

The talks are chaired by China, and also include Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.

Davies said he would raise denuclearisation, non-proliferation, human rights and humanitarian affairs in his talks with Kim Kye-Gwan at the North Korean embassy on Thursday morning and at the US embassy in the afternoon.

"I hope that they (North Koreans) are coming in a cooperative spirit, ready to discuss all of the issues of concern to us, and that we will spend more time at our talks discussing the future, rather than dwelling on the past."

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said China hoped the parties would continue to solve their differences through negotiation and create conditions for the early resumption of talks, the official state news agency Xinhua said.

Hong Lei said China was ready "to make constructive efforts with all relevant parties," Xinhua reported.