North Korea has invited top envoys of President Barack Obama to visit the communist nation in what would be the first nuclear negotiations between the two countries under his presidency, a news report said Tuesday, according to AP. North Korea recently invited Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to North Korea, and chief nuclear negotiator Sung Kim to Pyongyang, and the U.S. government is strongly considering sending them to the North next month, Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo daily reported. The JoongAng report, citing an unidentified high-level diplomatic source in Washington, said the U.S. diplomats might be able to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during the visit, considering Pyongyang's recent conciliatory attitude. Yonhap news agency also reported that the North has invited the two officials and that the U.S. is reviewing the offer. Such a trip would mark the first nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea under the Obama administration. Pyongyang has long sought direction negotiations with Washington about its nuclear program and other issues, hoping to boost its international profile. The U.S. has said it is willing to talk bilaterally to Pyongyang, but only within the framework of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
