U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday she was “encouraged” by signs that North Korea may be preparing to return to stalled negotiations on its nuclear program. Clinton's comments came as two senior U.S. envoys on the North Korean issue completed a tour to the region for talks with South Korea, China, and Japan, which along with the United States and Russia are pushing to resume dialogue with Pyongyang. U.S. Ambassadors Stephen Bosworth and Sung Kim “are quite heartened by the movement that we see in our joint efforts,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. The top U.S. diplomat said the United States would continue to seek the resumption of six-country disarmament talks that North Korea quit a year ago. “Ultimately, it is up to the North Koreans, but we are encouraged by signs of progress to return to the talks,” she said. Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean issues, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, had addressed how to try to regain momentum and return to negotiations.
