Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that his meeting with North Korean diplomats offered a "hopeful sign" of improving relations with the reclusive nation, which reiterated its desire for direct talks with the United States, Associated Press reported.
The Democratic governor said he had "productive talks" with a pair of representatives from the North Korean mission to the United Nations.
"The delegation indicated that North Korea is ready for a new dialogue with the United States regarding the nuclear issue," Richardson said in a statement. "The question is whether to proceed with face-to-face bilateral talks, as the North Koreans prefer, or to utilize the six-party framework that the United States has advocated. The North Koreans clearly want bilateral talks and not the six-party framework."
He said "temperatures have really cooled down" since former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea earlier this month and brought back two imprisoned American journalists.
This was the third time Richardson has met with North Korean diplomats in Santa Fe since taking office as governor in 2003.
Richardson was ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration and for years has served as a roving diplomatic troubleshooter, including missions to North Korea, Sudan, Cuba and Iraq.
He has traveled to North Korea several times, most recently in 2007 to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.
A spokesman for Richardson, Gilbert Gallegos, emphasized that the governor was not negotiating with the North Koreans nor representing President Barack Obama's administration.
The six-nation talks with the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, and North and South Korea had been aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program.
But North Korea pulled out of the talks in April and has sought one-on-one negotiations with Washington. The U.S. has said it's open to talks with Pyongyang only as part of the six-nation discussions.
