Clinton says envoy prepared to go to North Korea

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that a senior US special envoy for North Korea had been prepared to go to North Korea for talks at a moment's notice during a trip last week to Asia. Instead, she told reporters, the North Koreans did not allow Stephen Bosworth to visit Pyongyang for discussions on stalled international nuclear disarmament talks. "He was not invited to go to North Korea, which we regret," Clinton said after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Clinton said the Obama administration remains committed to restarting the six-nation talks "at the earliest possible moment." Those discussions have stalled over the North's refusal to commit to a process to verify its nuclear programs.