The United States is ready to talk to North Korea if it rejects "its provocative ways" and embraces a path to "denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula, Assistant US Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters on Thursday.
"The United States and South Korea have always maintained ... that we are prepared under the right circumstances, to sit down in a dialogue with North Korea," Campbell was quoted by Reuters as saying before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to South Korea next week.
He added, "But as President Lee Myung-bak has said on numerous occasions, we do not want to talk for talking's sake. ... there has to be a clear determination that North Korea rejects its provocative ways and embraces a path towards denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula."
