KOREA – UNITED STATES – CHINA US announces direct talks with North Korea

Washington – Despite North Korea’s unlawful nuclear tests and unprovoked attacks against South Korea, the United States has decided to extent an olive branch to the Pyongyang regime. US officials will meet a North Korean delegation in Geneva on 24-25 October in order to jumpstart multilateral talks on the North’s nuclear programme.

The US team will meet North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan. It will be the second such bilateral meeting between the two countries since July’s in New York.

Outgoing US Special Representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth, and his successor, Glyn Davies, current US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, will be in Geneva.

The six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme have been stalled since 2008. They include the two Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Pyongyang has been accused of conducting unlawful nuclear tests, compounded by unprovoked attacks against a South Korean navy ship and an island under Seoul’s control.

Washington has said that any diplomatic overture is tied to the unconditional end to military provocations.

China’s future premier, Li Keqiang, who is expected to replace Wen Jiabao in 2013, announced an official visit to the Korean Peninsula.

After three days in Pyongyang, he is expected to travel to Seoul. In both cases, trade and economic relations will be on the agenda. The visit will also test Li’s diplomatic skills.