No US-DPRK bilateral talks decided
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A senior US official on Thursday denied a report that US Special Representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Stephen Bosworth will visit Pyongyang next month.
Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Sung Kim, special envoy for the six-party talks on nuclear issues of the Korean peninsula, and Ri Gun, deputy representative of the DPRK at the six-party talks, have agreed in their talks on Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang next month.
"I talked to Ambassador Kim this morning. There was no agreement for a specific bilateral meeting and no agreement to make any announcement of that sort, either," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
Kelly also said that no decision had been made yet for any further meeting between Sung Kim and Ri Gun after the two had talks in New York on Saturday and their participation in Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue in San Diego.
"The US has made no decision for Ambassador Bosworth to accept the invitation of North Korea to have bilateral talks," Kelly said.
The United States has been urging the DPRK to give up nuclear arms for years. Although it agrees to be open to have dialogue with Pyongyang, the Obama administration insists that Pyongyang must agree to return to the six-party talks.
Any of US bilateral contacts with the DPRK should lead to the resumption of six-party nuclear disarmament talks, US official said.
The six-party talks involve China, the United States, the DPRK, Russia, South Korea and Japan.
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