FYI
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State news: North Korea proposes high-level talks with U.S.
By K.J. Kwon andGreg Botelho, CNN
June 16, 2013 -- Updated 0236 GMT (1036 HKT)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
inspects a military factory in this undated picture released by the
Korean Central News Agency on Friday, May 17. North Korea launched several
short-range guided missiles into the sea off the Korean Peninsula's east coast
May 18, South
Korea's semi-official news agency Yonhap cited the South Korean Defense
Ministry as saying.
HIDE CAPTION
Kim Jong Un and North Korea's military
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: U.S. should not lay out conditions, "not lose the opportunity,"
state news says
* A North Korean government group makes its offer to the U.S. to "ease
tensions"
* The U.S. has spearheaded efforts targeting North Korea's nuclear
program
* The North abruptly called off talks days ago with South Korea
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea proposed
high-level talks with the United States to "ease tensions in the Korean
Peninsula," its state news agency reported early Sunday.
The topics that "can be
sincerely discussed" include easing military tensions, changing a truce
treaty to a peace treaty and nuclear matters, according to a statement
from the North's National Defense Commission, as reported by the
state-run Korean Central News Agency. It left some details -- like where and
when the talks might be held -- up to Washington, and insisted U.S. officials
should not lay out any preconditions for talks.
"(The United States
should) not lose the opportunity that is laid out and should actively
agree with our resolute step and good intention," the commission said.
For years, North Korea
has been at odds with many in the international community, including the United
States, over its missile and nuclear programs.
Whether Pyongyang's offer is accepted -- and if so, on what terms -- and
whether the talks happen remains to be seen.
Last Tuesday, North Korea called off what were supposed to be the first
high-level talks between
North and South Korean officials in years. That meeting was supposed to
start the next day.
High-level talks between Koreas called off
South Korea's unification ministry said the North dropped out after a dispute
about who should be involved in the talks, after both sides contended that the
other wasn't sending a sufficiently high-level official to the delegation
The talks were to focus
on, among other things, reviving joint economic activities. Amid a spike in
tensions, the North in April halted activity at the Kaesong
Industrial Zone, a shared industrial complex and major symbol of
cooperation between the two countries.
North Korea removes missiles from launch site, U.S. official says
It was not immediately
clear what might be on the agenda if U.S. and North Korean officials
meet. Washington has been at the forefront of those demanding an end to
its nuclear program, pushing for sanctions and rallying other nations to their
side.
Tensions in and around
the Korean Peninsula surged in December -- one year after Kim Jong-un
assumed power after his father's death -- when North Korea launched a
long-range rocket then conducted an underground nuclear test two months
later.
Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific, said in April
that North Korea's missile and weapons programs posed "a clear and direct
threat to U.S.
national security and regional peace and stability."
Why North Korean intelligence is so hard to read
That same month, North
Korea set out demanding conditions for talks. They included calling for
the withdrawal of U.N. sanctions against it and a permanent end to joint
U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
The United States and
South Korea "should immediately stop all their provocative acts against
the DPRK and apologize for all of them," the North's National Defense
Commission said in a statement carried by state-run media, using the
shortened version of North Korea's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
But those talks never
came to be, with South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young
describing the North's demands as "preposterous."
The United States has
said that, in order for it to engage in talks, North Korea would have to show a
serious commitment to moving away from its nuclear program.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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