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U.S., N.K. may hold talks after Thanksgiving holiday: source
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States and North Korea will likely hold bilateral dialogue to make a breakthrough in the stalled six-party denuclearization talks in early December after the American Thanksgiving holiday, a diplomatic official here said Monday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il extended an invitation to Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. point man on North Korea, in August after months of provocations, and expressed his willingness to come back to the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear programs when he met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last month in Pyongyang.
"The bilateral meeting appears most likely to be held after the Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on Nov. 25-29," said a senior Seoul government official, requesting to be unnamed.
The U.S. State Department in Washington was reportedly expected to make either an official or unofficial announcement of the date of the bilateral talks late Monday or early Tuesday (local time) at the earliest.
Bosworth said last week that he expects the U.S. government will make a decision on his trip to Pyongyang "soon", possibly "within a few weeks."
Washington was reportedly eyeing holding the bilateral dialogue soon after President Barack Obama's scheduled Asian tour and before the Thanksgiving holiday but readjusted the date after a group of private U.S. experts on North Korea booked a visit to Pyongyang from Nov. 21-24.
Jack Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI), and Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation, are expected to visit North Korea on those dates.
Another government official, requesting to be unnamed, agreed on the need to reschedule the meeting, as the U.S. State Department "had to review North Korea's reaction towards the South Korea-U.S. summit" set to be held on Nov. 19.
U.S. officials see the North's recent conciliatory overtures as the result of international financial sanctions and an overall arms embargo, which they said has effectively cut off revenue from arms sales, the main source of hard currency for the impoverished communist state.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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