PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea’s leader is offering to return to multinational disarmament talks in a renewed effort to draw Washington into one-on-one talks that the United States has yet to fully embrace.
Kim Jong-Il told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday that the North “is willing to attend multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the progress in its talks with the United States,” China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
“Kim Jong-Il wants to show through bilateral talks with the U.S. that his country is an equal partner of the United States, and this will strengthen his position before returning to the six-way talks,” analyst Lee Sang-Hyun of the Sejong Institute, a South Korean security think tank, said Tuesday. North Korea withdrew from the talks after conducting a rocket test in April and a second nuclear test in May.
