The US envoy to North Korea said Thursday that Washington was willing to negotiate with Pyongyang, as he began a trip aimed at convincing the reclusive state to resume nuclear disarmament talks.
"The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea," Stephen Bosworth told reporters after a meeting with China's foreign minister Yang Jiechi.
Bosworth was in Beijing on the first stop of a tour that will take him to South Korea, Japan and Russia in a bid to convince North Korea to resume stalled six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programme.
"We believe strongly that the solution to the tensions and problems of the area now lies in dialogue and negotiation," said Bosworth, who also met with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei.
The United States has been involved in negotiations with the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia aimed at scrapping North Korea's nuclear programme in exchange for aid under a landmark six-party agreement signed in 2007.
The negotiations deadlocked late last year over a dispute with North Korea over how to verify disarmament before taking a sharp turn for the worse with North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on April 5.
The North last week threatened to conduct a second nuclear test and ballistic missile tests unless the United Nations Security Council apologised for condemning and punishing its rocket launch.
Pyongyang said it put a peaceful satellite into orbit but the United States, South Korea and Japan said it staged a disguised missile test.
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