North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan has poured cold water on the idea of holding the next round of six-way talks on his country's nuclear threat by year's end, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa said Thursday.
Mitoji Yabunaka, head of the Japanese delegation currently visiting Pyongyang for bilateral talks, urged Kim to participate unconditionally in the six-party negotiations within this time frame, given that the U.S. presidential election is over, Tanigawa told a news conference in Tokyo.
The six-way talks also include the United States, Russia, China and South Korea.
Pyongyang balked at a proposed fourth round of the six-way talks, initially slated for September, citing Washington's "hostile" policy as the reason for its nonparticipation. It was generally perceived that the North was awaiting the outcome of the election before deciding on its next step.
"(North Korea) is committed to a peaceful resolution through the six-way talks," Kim was quoted by Tanigawa as saying. "But the environment is not right for an early resumption of the talks."
Kim added, however, that North Korea would continue to make efforts toward the restart of negotiations, Tanigawa said.
Yabunaka and other Japanese officials are in Pyongyang to discuss the fate of 10 missing Japanese whom Tokyo believes were abducted by North Korea. Pyongyang has admitted abducting eight of them and claimed they have since died but has denied that the other two entered the country.
The talks were expected to end Friday.