US envoy says optimistic about engagement with DPRK

A special US envoy on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Monday he is optimistic about ending an impasse in resolving the DPRK's nuclear issues in the near future.

"The problems that we're trying to address are no less urgent than they were previously. And I am optimistic that at some point in the not too distant future, we can be back engaged," Stephen Bosworth, the US special representative for DPRK policy, said in a meeting with Seoul's acting foreign minister Shin Kak-soo.

The two agreed that Seoul and Washington should stick to the two-track approach of seeking dialogues and sanctions at the same time when dealing with Pyongyang, the foreign ministry said in a press briefing following the meeting.

The envoy also met with Wi Sung-lac, his South Korean counterpart, to discuss stalled six-party talks over denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They met earlier this month in Washington, in a possible indication of a fresh momentum in reopening the moribund talks. Bosworth declined to tell reporters when exactly the talks can resume.

Seoul and Washington had said Pyongyang should first apologize for its alleged sinking of a South Korean warship in March before the nuclear talks can be reconvened, but a recent flurry of diplomatic activities have raised hopes for an earlier resumption. The DPRK denies its role in the sinking, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

The six-party talks hit a snag when Pyongyang unilaterally pulled out of them in April 2009 in protest against the UN condemnation of its rocket launch.