DPRK Expresses Pledge to Rejoin Six Party Talks

The DPRK has expressed its willingness to return to the Six Party Talks.  The country made the announcement following a trip to Beijing last week by DPRK Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Kye Gwan.  Yonhap:

In the KCNA report, the North’s foreign ministry spokesman said Pyongyang “remains unchanged in its will to implement the September 19 joint statement adopted at the six-party talks for denuclearizing the whole Korean Peninsula.”

The spokesman was referring to a landmark 2005 deal under which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in return for economic aid and security guarantees.

The six-party talks were one of the major topics in talks between North Korean First Vice President Kim Kye-gwan and Chinese officials in Beijing this week, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The Chinese statement urged other dialogue countries to “work together through contact and dialogue to further relax the situation and create conditions and atmosphere for the resumption of the six-party talks.”