Official: U.S. hopes to continue talks with DPRK

The United States remains hopeful for talks with the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea over the settlement of nuclear issues.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korean Policy Stephen Bosworth fields a question at the Foreign Press Center in Washington April 3, 2009. The U.S. is open to bilateral contacts with North Korea and urges the communist state to refrain from launching a missile and return to six-nation nuclear negotiations, Bosworth said on Friday. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US special representative on the DPRK, Stephen Bosworth, says the US will
continue to have bilateral contact with the DPRK. Bosworth also urged the
country to halt the planned rocket launch.

US envoy to DPRK Stephen BOsworth said, "The six-party talks, we believe,
must be at the centre and forefront of our efforts to deal with North Korea and
their nuclear program. So that will not change. We will continue to have
bilateral contacts with the North Koreans and we are prepared to open that
channel at any point. Now I don't think that bilateral contacts of this sort --
that have occurred in the past, that I believe will occur in the future -- will
weaken the six-party process. I think indeed they, if it is possible, they will
strengthen the six-party process."