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N.Korea leader receives letter from Obama: state media
Seoul (AFP) Dec 18, 2009 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was given a letter from Barack Obama during a trip by the US president's envoy last week, state media said Friday. Obama's personal letter was delivered when US envoy Stephen Bosworth met North Korea's first vice foreign minister Kang Sok-Ju on December 9, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch. The agency gave no further details. US officials said Wednesday that Bosworth had delivered a letter during his groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang from December 8 to 10, but refused to divulge its contents. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the letter contained a proposal by Washington to set up a liaison office in Pyongyang if the communist country returns to six-party nuclear disarmament talks. The US office could be set up in Pyongyang as early as next year if North Korea returns to the six-party forum, an unnamed diplomatic source told Yonhap. Yonhap quoted the source as saying Washington and Pyongyang were expected to start "serious discussions" on diplomatic normalisation or a peace treaty to mark a formal end to the Korean war if the liaison office is set up. "Six-party negotiations may resume in the first half of next year," the source said. A peace treaty would replace the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War, during which North Korea, backed by Chinese troops, fought South Korea, supported by US-led UN troops. After the three-day trip to Pyongyang, Bosworth said Washington and Pyongyang agreed on the need to resume talks. But he said it was unclear when the North might return to nuclear negotiations, which group the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. In April, angry at international censure of its launch of a long-range rocket, North Korea declared the six-party talks "dead". In May it staged its second nuclear test since 2006 and followed up with missile launches in July, attracting tougher UN sanctions. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
North Korea looks to spur free-trade zoneSeoul (UPI) Dec 17, 2009 North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il made a visit to the country's sputtering free-trade zone for the first time since its foundation two decades ago in an apparent bid to woo much-needed foreign capital. Kim made an "on-spot" guidance tour of the Rason free economic and trade zone on the country's northern tip bordering China and Russia, the North's official Central News Agency ... read more |
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