The White House says it urged North Korea to return to six-party nuclear negotiations when the two nations held direct talks in New York last Friday. A White House spokesman told reporters today that US negotiators also reiterated Washington's policy toward Pyongyang. The State Department today said Washington had requested Friday's meeting, where the special US envoy for the nuclear talks (Joseph DeTrani and head of the State Department's office on Korean affairs Jim Foster) met with North Korea's representatives to the United Nations.
Also today, North and South Korea ended their latest round of talks with an agreement to meet again, but a joint statement made no mention of Pyongyang's controversial nuclear program. The two sides agreed to resume ministerial-level talks next month (June 21-24) in Seoul, and South Korea agreed to ship some 200-thousand tons of fertilizer to the North starting Saturday.