Patience needed to bring N. Korea back to nuclear talks: U.S. envoy

BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. envoy who visited North Korea earlier this
week called on Saturday for patience in bringing the communist state back to
six-nation talks aimed at denuclearizing it.

The talks, which also include South Korea, Russia, Japan and China, were
abandoned by North Korea earlier this year over U.N. condemnation of its
long-range rocket launch.
Following the three-day visit by Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy on
North Korea, Pyongyang announced it would try to narrow differences in efforts to
revive the talks.
"This may be a time to exercise a bit of strategic patience," Bosworth told
reporters in Beijing after briefing Chinese officials on his trip to Pyongyang.
Bosworth, who was echoing comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
said the talks he had with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju were
"very useful" and that the members of the nuclear talks need to "sit still (and)
quietly for a bit, and decide where we might go next."
But he noted that the timing for the resumption of the six-nation talks is still
unclear.
"How and when we resume the six-party talks remains to be resolved," he said.
Bosworth arrived in Beijing on Friday, when the North hinted it could return to
the talks that China hosts.
North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006, including one in May this
year.
Bosworth will fly to Tokyo after he ends his Chinese trip.
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