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N. Korea agency wants to resume nuke talks
North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Monday called for the six-party nuclear talks to resume the week of Sept. 12, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
An unnamed ministry spokesman said the North told the United States that it couldn't attend the talks while U.S.-South Korean military drills were in progress. The exercises, which began last week, end Friday. North Korea would hold the talks "when the dust from the war drills have settled down somewhat," the ministry spokesman said. He said the United States expressed understanding of its position during recent contact in New York, according to the KCNA report. Delegates to the fourth round of talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up nuclear development took a recess earlier this month and had agreed to meet again this week. After 13 days of talks, the six countries ¡ª China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas ¡ª failed to agree on a statement of basic principles to guide future negotiations. The ministry spokesman said that while the six countries agreed not to make comments or actions that would pose as an obstacle to the resumption of the talks when they went into recess, the United States launched the military drill and appointed a North Korean human rights envoy. North Korea routinely criticizes the annual military exercises between South Korea and the United States. About 10,000 Americans and an undisclosed number of South Koreans are participating in this year's exercise. The nuclear crisis erupted in late 2002 after U.S. officials say North Korea admitted to running a secret nuclear program in violation of an earlier deal with Washington.
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