DPRK calls for direct talks with U.S.

The DPRK could take part in multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, only if Washington held bilateral talks with Pyongyang first, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, quoted by the official KCNA news agency.

    The unnamed spokesman said Ri Gun, chief of the American Bureau of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, contacted with officials of the U.S. State Department recently.

    But the contacts were "not preparatory contacts for the DPRK-U.S. talks, so didn't discuss any substantial issue about the direct talks between the two countries," he said.

    It was the DPRK's "basic and proper" stand to hold multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the result of the DPRK-U.S. direct talks, he said; Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.news.xinhuanet.com for full version.