North Korea Invites U.S. Nuclear Envoy

U.S. Assistant Secretary of States Christopher Hill, seen there in this April 13, 2006, file photo, has been invited by North Korea to visit the nation so it can prove to the United States it's abiding by a 2005 agreement in which it pledged to abandon its nuclear weapons program. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Thursday invited the chief U.S. nuclear envoy to visit the communist nation to prove Washington is committed to an agreement last year in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill has previously expressed a desire to visit the North if it would help the six-nation arms negotiations, although he has said many factors would determine if such a trip could be made.

"If the U.S. has a true political intention to implement the joint statement, we kindly invite once again the head of the U.S. side's delegation to the talks to visit Pyongyang and directly explain it to us," an unidentified spokesman for the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The "joint statement" refers to a September agreement where the North pledged to abandon its nuclear development for aid and security guarantees.

No progress has since been made on implementing the pact. The full arms talks haven't been held since November, with the North refusing to attend in anger over the U.S. blacklisting a Macau-based bank and North Korean companies for alleged involvement in counterfeiting, money laundering and weapons proliferation. Washington says the moves are unrelated to the nuclear issue.

Other contacts have since been made between the sides, including through diplomats in New York along with encounters in Beijing and Japan.

Hill said he will "consult with our partners" on the North Korean invitation.

"But we must emphasize that the problem we face is not for lack of meetings or travel, but rather due to the DPRK's unwillingness to participate in the six-party talks and to fulfill their part of the bargain _ denuclearization," Hill told The Associated Press in an e-mail message. DPRK is an acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The U.S. is committed to full implementation of the September agreement and we have said so on many occasions, including directly to the DPRK," Hill said.

The North claimed Thursday the United States was to blame for the deadlocked arms talks.

"The U.S. will never be able to find a way of solving the issue if it is so reluctant to sit with the party directly concerned with the issue, while expressing its intention to seek a negotiated settlement of such crucial issue as the nuclear issue," the North said.

"The U.S. has avoided contacts" with the North, although "the six parties agreed on re-energizing the bilateral and multilateral contacts among them to create an atmosphere favorable for" more arms talks, the spokesman said, adding that the North was committed to its earlier pledge.