North Korea’s vice foreign minister will come to the United States this week to discuss a continuation of Six Party Talks, the State Department announced Sunday.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton met with Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers in New York Saturday to discuss coordinating efforts on North Korea.
In the upcoming meeting this week, the United States will try to determine the North’s willingness to make good on earlier denuclearization commitments.
The United States said it wants to see North Korea “take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization.”
“We do not intend to reward the North just for returning to the table. We will not give them anything new for actions they have already agreed to take,” said Clinton in a press release.
The six-party negotiations on the denuclearization of North Korea held by the United States, China, Russia, Japan, and the Koreas fell apart in 2009 when North Korea tested missiles that were nuclear-capable. After the United Nations Security Council condemned North Korea in April 2009 for the missile launch, North Korea withdrew from the talks.
The United States continues to insist that North Korea follow through on its commitments to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs as per a Six Party agreement made in 2005.
