N. Korea 'willing' to talk with U.S.

The U.S. is worried about the North's weapons program

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has decided to reopen dialogue with the United States, a South Korean envoy has said after returning from the communist North.

"Leader Kim Jong-Il has expressed willingness to open dialogue with the United States, and will accept a U.S. envoy's visit to the North," the envoy, Lim Dong-Won, said at a news conference in Seoul.

The United States had sought talks with North Korea, without pre-conditions, since June last year.

But Pyongyang had rebuffed the offer, especially in the wake of U.S. President George W. Bush labeling the North as part of "an axis of evil" -- along with Iran and Iraq -- in January.

During his four-day stay in the North, Lim held talks with Kim Jong-Il and other top North Korean officials on stalled inter-Korean dialogue and icy relations between Washington and North Korea.

Lim's North Korea visit was the first public contact in five months between the deeply divided neighbors.

Kim Jong-Il said he would accept a proposed visit to North Korea by a special U.S. envoy and would expand civilian exchanges with the United States, Lim said.

Lim said he understood that Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, "either began his visit to the North on Friday, or was about to arrive Saturday."

'Anytime, anywhere'

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State Department officials were unavailable for comment Friday night but have said for months the administration is willing to meet with Pyongyang officials at any time, any place.

Last June, Bush offered to resume Clinton-era security negotiations but they reached a stalemate. The North had not indicated a willingness to accept until the announcement in Seoul.

The Clinton administration's talks focused on curbing Pyongyang's missile program, but Bush wants to broaden the agenda to include talks on the North's massive deployment near the demilitarized zone. It has said the North is free to raise any issue it wishes.

The North is believed to have 5,000 tons of chemical weapons as well as missiles capable of reaching the western United States. The North also is believed by some to have one or two nuclear bombs.

The United States keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea to bolster Seoul's 600,000-strong armed forces against the million-member North Korean military.

New North-South deal

Lim's North Korea visit was the first public contact in five months between the deeply divided neighbors

Lim said he also won Kim Jong-il's agreement to resume stalled Korean goodwill and exchange projects, which were contained in a joint statement that pledged to "fully revive the North-South rapprochement."

The projects include reunions of families divided for five decades, tourism and economic cooperation talks and renewed discussion on opening North-South railroad links, Lim said, adding the two sides would try to revive military consultations.

The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war because the Korean War ended in an armed truce that has not been replaced with a peace treaty.

Inter-Korean relations warmed after a historic summit between their leaders in 2000, enabling reunions among hundreds of divided families. But that stopped when relations cooled again amid increasing tension between North Korea and the United States.

Many families have been divided since the end of the Korean War in 1953

South Korea's unification minister, Chung Se-hyun said "the biggest part" of a deal struck by Lim and North Korean officials is a decision to resume work on a cross-border railway line, which was cut off just before the start of the Korean War.

The new North-South deal will call for a reactivation of an inter-Korean governmental committee that was set up two years ago to handle economic cooperation and exchanges, Lim said.

The first business of the committee is expected to be South Korean economic aid. Seoul has expressed willingness to give the impoverished North 300,000 tons of free food and 200,000 tons of fertilizer.

The North Korean leader also expressed intention to enter dialogue with Japan, including Red Cross talks over the fate of Japanese nationals Tokyo believes were abducted by North Korean agents, the special envoy said.