A former U.S. State Department official says North Korea may be willing to declare a moratorium on nuclear weapons and missile testing.
Joel Wit, a senior fellow with the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, told Yonhap News on Wednesday that he was given the assurance by Ri Yong-ho , the North's top nuclear envoy, at a seminar last month in Berlin.
| Last month? Out of date by about 29 days, Comrade Wit... |
Declaring a moratorium on nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missile testing was part of a U.S.-North Korea deal signed last year. Wit called on North Korea and the U.S. to hold face-to-face talks on ways to denuclearize the North.
| Wit thus demonstrates himself to be a tool of the North Koreans... |
But he added the moratorium cannot be a precondition for international talks
but may lick in once all sides are at the table. |