U.S. has no immediate plan to invite N. Korean envoy for talks: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- The United States said Wednesday it has no plans to invite North Korea's chief nuclear envoy for another meeting to revive the stalled six-party talks on the North's denuclearization.

"I don't have anything to announce on that, not at this time," State Department
deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.
Reports said that Kim Kye-gwan will soon visit the U.S. to meet with U.S.
officials on the sidelines of an academic seminar.
A diplomatic source here said that discussions are under way regarding Kim's
visit to the U.S. for a seminar, but added, "No decision has been made yet on
that."
The North Korean envoy last week visited Beijing to discuss the reopening of the
six-party talks and a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the
1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea recently said it was ready to return to the six-nation forum, which
it has boycotted since early last year over U.N. sanctions imposed after its
nuclear and missile tests. But Pyongyang has also insisted on the lifting of
sanctions before it returns to the talks.
A U.S. visit by Kim has been expected since the tour of North Korea by Stephen
Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, in December to discuss
the reopening of the nuclear negotiations.
Kim's Beijing trip followed the visit to Pyongyang by Wang Jiarui, head of the
international liaison department of the Chinese Communist Party. Wang met early
this month with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in the fifth such meeting for the
Chinese official since 2004.
While meeting with Wang, the North Korean leader reaffirmed his nation's
commitment to denuclearization, but also used language to underscore the North's
demand for a peace treaty and the removal of sanctions as preconditions.
Washington has said it is open to those steps, but only after the North returns
to the talks, which also involve South Korea, China, Japan an