U.S. Officials Not Yet Sure of North Korean Nuclear Talks

The United States is receiving ambiguous signals on the possibility of talks early next year to defuse the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 29).

North Korea and China, which has hosted the meeting in the past, announced recently that Pyongyang had agreed to resume the talks. North Korea also, however, released a statement saying that it had been slandered by U.S. President George W. Bush and “U.S. imperialists.”

“I don’t think we’re close until we’re there,” U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday. “It’s a complex diplomatic effort that requires patience and does not lend itself to sort of flights of exuberance,” he added (Allen/Ricks, Washington Post, Dec. 30).

Pyongyang has previously demanded concessions before returning to the negotiating table.

“Frankly I don’t know what it means,” a senior U.S. official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 30).

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