China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that North Korea had expressed willingness to rejoin the six-nation talks on its disputed nuclear program, which collapsed in 2008 after Pyongyang opted out of the negotiations.
The six-nation talks, which began in 2003, were aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program through a negotiating process involving China, the United States, North and South Koreas, Japan and Russia.
In a statement posted on its website on Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said North Korea's First Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan made the surprise offer during a meeting in Beijing with Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui.
North Korea had agreed at the six-nation talks in 2005 to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for aid, but pulled out of the negotiations after the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) condemned it for launching a rocket and imposed sanctions on several of its firms.
Soon after walking out of the talks, North Korea expelled U.S. nuclear experts and IAEA inspectors monitoring its Yongbyon nuclear complex, conducted its second nuclear test in May 2009 and test-fired several ballistic missiles. The UNSC responded to the actions by slamming tougher sanctions on the reclusive country.
Later in February 2012, North Korea announced a moratorium on its nuclear tests, uranium enrichment, and long-range missile testing in exchange for food aid, following several rounds of talks with the United States in Beijing.
But in April 2012, North Korea abandoned that deal after the United States suspended delivery of its planned food aid in response to a rocket launch by Pyongyang to mark the birth centenary of the country's founder Kim Il Sung. Notably, the rocket exploded soon after lift-off and fell into the sea near the Korean peninsula.
Nevertheless, the rocket launch was in direct violation of UNSC resolutions that prohibit North Korea from conducting any launches that use ballistic missile technology. The U.S. and its allies insisted that the launch as a disguised attempt for testing a long-range missile. The UNSC later ordered the tightening of U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its disputed nuclear and missile programs in 2006 and 2009.
Subsequently, Kim Jong-un took over as North Korea's supreme leader after his father Kim Jong-Il died in December 2012. Under its current leader, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test in February 2013, defying previous U.N. sanctions and resolutions.
The latest nuclear test prompted the UNSC to impose fresh sanctions on the impoverished country. Pyongyang responded by canceling the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War, withdrawing its workers from a jointly-run industrial zone with South Korea and unleashing a stream of threats against South Korea and the United States.
Notably, Pyongyang softened its stand earlier this month and proposed talks with South Korea on reopening the jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex as well as other issues contributing to the escalation of tensions. But the proposed talks were later suspended by the two nations over disagreement on the composition of their delegations.
Subsequently, North Korea on last Sunday proposed high-level talks with the United States to defuse current tensions in the Korean peninsula and to discuss issues related to Pyongyang's disputed nuclear and missile programs.
But the U.S. response to the offer was cautious, with Washington reiterating its stand that it was open to "credible" negotiations with North Korea only if the communist state took "meaningful steps to honor past commitments on its disputed nuclear and missile programs.
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