Meeting with a special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao in Pyongyang last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed his willingness to resolve problems related to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through bilateral and multilateral talks.
Mr. Kim reportedly told Mr. Hu's special envoy Dai Bingguo that North Korea will adhere to the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula and make efforts to maintain and promote peace and political stability in the region.
It is remarkable that Mr. Kim mentioned joining multilateral talks over the nuclear issue. But it is unclear whether he meant a return to the six-party talks chaired by China and joined by the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia. North Korea withdrew from the talks in April after the U.N. Security Council censured it over its test of a long-range rocket earlier the same month. The North in May carried out its second nuclear explosion test, which caused the international community to slap it with sanctions.