US and North Korea start talks in Geneva

Negotiators from the United States and North Korea have begun a two-day meeting in Geneva.

It is the second such encounter since six-party talks on disarmament collapsed more than two years ago.

The session, which follows talks in New York in late July, is aimed more at managing tensions on the divided Korean peninsula than resuming regional talks on ending the North’s nuclear programmes. 

                                  

“Talks have started. They are in the room and talking,” a US official was quoted by Reuters as saying on Monday outside the US embassy in Geneva, the site of the meeting. 

                                  

US officials and analysts were keeping expectations low this week, despite a recent slight easing of tensions between US ally South Korea and North Korea, and Pyongyang’s repeated calls for resuming nuclear talks.

                                  

The six-party talks, including North Korea’s ally China as well as Russia, Japan and South Korea, fell apart in 2009 when North Korea quit the process after United Nations sanctions were imposed following its second nuclear test.