North Korea is open to reestablishing six-party talks on its nuclear program, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told top US officials this week.
Hor Namhong, who visited North Korea earlier this month, discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in talks with her on Tuesday, the minister told VOA Khmer in an exclusive TV interview in Washington Wednesday.
North Korea will open talks without pre-conditions, Hor Namhong said in the interview. But it does want to have a reactor that the US promised them long ago, he said.
“This is what they want,” he said.
North Korea pulled out of talks with five nations—China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US—in April 2009, following US condemnation of a failed satellite launch.
Hor Namhong said North Korea would also be willing to enter into direct talks with the US.
“So long as the US stops its hostilities against North Korea, stops its objection against North Korea, then North Korea will be able to dialogue with the US, to ensure there are no nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula,” Hor Namhong said. “I have already passed this message to Secretary Clinton.”
Cambodia will host a major Asean ministerial meeting in July, where Clinton is expected to attend. North Korean officials are also expected to attend the regional security conference.