Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Officials from Beijing and Washington meet for North Korea talks

American and Chinese officials held meetings about North Korea on Tuesday amid signs Pyongyang may be willing to restart talks on its nuclear programs.

The Obama administration and its top Asian allies agreed Monday that direct U.S.-North Korean talks may be the best way to bring North Korea back to the nuclear negotiating table. But they also suggested that more groundwork needed to be laid by China, North Korea's main friend and benefactor, before President Barack Obama would decide to send his special North Korea envoy, Stephen Bosworth, to Pyongyang for such discussions.

China, which wields the most outside influence of any country with North Korea, is widely believed to hold the key for the resumption in the stalled disarmament talks.

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