BEIJING (AP) - The United States and North Korea resumed talks Thursday delayed by the death of North Korea's longtime leader Kim Jong Il two months ago, with the U.S. envoy saying he and his counterpart covered U.S. food aid and other topics.
The discussions - the first since Kim's death - are to continue Friday and could signal whether North Korea's new government is ready to agree to steps demanded by Washington and Pyongyang's neighbors to restart broader international disarmament talks, which are meant to provide aid and diplomatic concessions in return for the North abandoning its nuclear weapons programs.
Kim's Dec. 17 death upended a deal between the United States and North Korea where Pyongyang would have suspended its uranium enrichment in return for food aid from Washington. The meetings in Beijing may partly reveal North Korea's goals under new leader Kim Jong Un, who has vowed to follow his father's policies.
"The talks today were substantive and serious and we covered quite a number of issues," U.S. envoy Glyn Davies told reporters after meeting his counterpart Kim Kye Gwan for almost six hours over two sessions, first at the North Korean Embassy and then at the U.S. Embassy.
Davies would not provide other details, saying only that nutritional aid was discussed.
Kim said he found it "positive" the two sides talked with "serious attitudes," South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Kim wouldn't elaborate when asked if progress was made.
The talks in Beijing, the third round since July, are aimed at restarting six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations that also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Pyongyang walked away from those talks in 2009 and later exploded its second nuclear device.
Additional steps may still be needed before a resumption of the six-nation talks. The North may first request food shipments, while the U.S. and its allies want assurances Pyongyang is committed to making progress on past nuclear commitments.