A U.S. special envoy focused Thursday on how to get North Korea back on track with its commitments to nuclear disarmament as he headed into meetings with officials from China, Japan and South Korea, the U.S. Embassy said, AP reported. Stephen Bosworth, the special envoy to North Korea, was to meet the officials later Thursday afternoon in Beijing before traveling on to Seoul and later to Tokyo as part of an Asia tour amid recent conciliatory moves by Pyongyang. His visit to the region aims to «continue consultations with our partners and allies on how to best convince North Korea that it must live up to its obligations ... and take irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization,» the embassy said in a statement. Bosworth's visit follows the arrival in Beijing earlier in the week of North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il as part of commemorations of 60 years of diplomatic ties between the communist neighbors. North Korea recently invited Bosworth and chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Sung Kim to Pyongyang, although neither side have announced any plans for them to visit. In April, North Korea quit six-nation talks _ involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan _ aimed at ending its nuclear program. North Korea then conducted its second nuclear test in May, drawing international condemnation and new U.N. sanctions. -- SPA
