The White House today called on North Korea to provide a date for resuming six-party talks aimed at halting Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons program. "We have a proposal on the table that we want to talk about," spokesman Scott McClellan said, referring to a package of inducements and assurances that the United States proposed to North Korea at the last round of multilateral talks a year ago. "We urge North Korea to give us a date and return to the six-party talks as soon as possible, without preconditions," McClellan told reporters. McClellan's remarks came after South Korean officials said they had pushed for the talks to resume in July but that Pyongyang had refused to set a date for a new round of negotiations between it and the United States, South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia. In a joint statement after two days of talks between Seoul and Pyongyang, the two Koreas pledged to take "specific measures" to end the standoff over the North's nuclear ambitions. "South Korea and North Korea, setting the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula as their ultimate goal, have agreed to take specific measures to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue as soon as the atmosphere is mature," the joint statement said. Asked about the statement, McClellan replied, "We still have no date for North Korea returning to talks. North Korea needs to commit to a date for returning to the six-party talks, without preconditions, and be ready to talk in a serious way about how to move forward."
