U.S, North Korea to resume nuclear talks

U.S. negotiators will meet with North Korean envoys before the year's end for a rare, bilateral discussion about Pyongyang's clandestine nuclear program, the State Department announced Tuesday.

The goal, explained department spokesman P.J. Crowley, is to encourage North Korean leaders to resume six-party talks, which President Kim Jong Il unexpectedly abandoned in December.

"From our standpoint, the purpose will be to facilitate an early resumption of the six-party talks and to secure North Korea's reaffirmation of the September 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks, including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," Crowley said during Tuesday's press briefing.

The standoff between the United States and North Korea over the latter country's nuclear program reached a new intensity this May, after Pyongyang launched its second nuclear test.

But after months of bickering and diplomatic wrangling over those tests, the country's leadership and its role in the international community, North Korean leaders have signaled they are ready to resume discussions.

However, U.S. leaders seem to expect the worst, and they stressed on Tuesday that Pyongyang's return to the negotiating table was no substitute for serious, committed action to addressing its nuclear program.

"We are not going to reward North Korea simply for returning to the six-party talks," Crowley said. "We will be looking to see if they're prepared to take the kinds of affirmative steps that they've previously agreed to."