US ready to resume talks with N. Korea

WASHINGTON/SEOUL: The United States said it was ready to resume talks with North Korea after Pyongyang pledged on Wednesday to dismantle its key missile facilities and suggested it would close its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if Washington took unspecified actions.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had invited North Korea’s foreign minister to meet in New York next week, with the aim of completing its denuclearisation by January 2021, after a Pyongyang summit between the two Korean leaders.

The United States appeared eager to seize on commitments by North Korean leader Kim Jongun at his talks with South Korean President Moon Jaein, even as

critics said the steps did little to put Pyongyang on a course for irreversible denuclearisation.

North Korea will allow experts from ‘‘concerned countries’’ to watch the closure of its missile engine testing site and launch pad at Tongchangri, Moon said at a joint news conference with Kim after their meeting.

North Korea would also take additional steps such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if the US undertook unspecified reciprocal measures, Moon said.

The sudden revival of diplomacy followed weeks of doubts in US President Donald Trump’s administration about whether North Korea was willing to negotiate in good faith after a June summit between Trump and Kim yielded few tangible results.

The January 2021 completion date was the most specific deadline set in what is expected to be a long process of trying to get the North to end its nuclear programme, which may threaten US allies South Korea and Japan as well as the US homeland.

In addition to inviting North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to meet when both are in New York next week for the annual UN general assembly, Pompeo said Washington invited Pyongyang’s delegates to meet Stephen Biegun, US special representative for North Korea, in Vienna at the ‘‘earliest opportunity’’.

China, North Korea’s most important economic backer and diplomatic ally, said it welcomed and supported the agreement reached in Pyongyang.

‘‘We absolutely cannot let this hardtocomeby opportunity for peace slip away once again,’’ Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said in a statement. — Reuters

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Graceful display . . . North Koreans perform gymnastic and artistic dance at the visit of South Korean President Moon Jaein and North Korean leader Kim Jongun to the May Day Stadium on Wednesday in Pyongyang, North Korea.