MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia welcomes North Korea's recent announcement that it is willing to return to the six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program, Moscow's envoy to the talks said on Wednesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's announcement, carried by the country's official agency, came on Monday during his meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Pyongyang.
Grigory Logvinov told RIA Novosti: "Willingness to engage in talks is already a very positive step, all the more since they are talking about the six-party format, which we have said several times that we consider optimal. It allows all countries directly affected by North Korea's nuclear problem to express their interests and concerns."
During his meeting, Kim expressed "readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of the negotiations between the DPRK [the North's official name] and the United States," Pyongyang's KCNA agency said.
North Korea abandoned the negotiations in April, in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of its nuclear bomb and missile tests. The six-party talks had involved the two Koreas, China, the U.S., Russia and Japan.
The North recently invited Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy to Pyongyang, to visit. Washington has said it will wait for the results of the Chinese premier's visit before deciding on whether to accept the invitation.
Responding to the North Korean statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. "remains willing to engage North Korea bilaterally within the framework of the Six Party process to convince North Korea to take the path of complete denuclearization."
Kim also called for an improvement in relations with the U.S.
"The hostile relations between the DPRK and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," KCNA quoted him as saying.
