N. Korea says it’s open to new talks

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said today that it is open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons program in what appeared to be a call for direct talks with the United States.

The statement from Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry marks a rare expression of willingness to talk by a regime that has rapidly escalated tensions with a flurry of provocations in recent months, including a nuclear test and several missile launches.

It also suggests that the isolated communist regime thinks it has raised its stakes enough, and it’s time to negotiate.

Today, North Korea made clear again it won’t return to six-nation nuclear talks involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S., saying the forum seeks only to “disarm and incapacitate” the nation.

But it added, “There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation.”

The statement did not elaborate on the new form of dialogue. But Pyongyang has long been known to be seeking direct negotiations with Washington.

North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper also said Sunday that the country’s envoy told an Asian security conference in Thailand last week that the nuclear standoff was a matter only between Pyongyang and Washington.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on NBC television’s “Meet the Press” that “the six-party talk framework, which had everybody included, is the appropriate way to engage with North Korea.” She also said North Korea doesn’t have any friends left.

North Korea quit the six-nation talks in April in anger over a U.N. rebuke of its long-range rocket launch.