US invites top NKorean official for nuclear talks
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press
Jul 24, 2011 5:31 AM CDT
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks a joint press conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, not in the photo, during a Joint Commission meeting between the two countries at the Ayodhya Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, July 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb,...   (Associated Press)

The United States has invited a top North Korean official to New York to talk about the next steps necessary to resume the long-stalled six-nation discussions aimed at ridding the North of its nuclear programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Sunday that North Korean Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan will meet this week with a team of U.S. officials to explore his country's commitment to return to the so-called Six Party Talks and take concrete steps toward disarmament.

Clinton made the announcement in a statement issued as she was leaving Bali, Indonesia, where top nuclear negotiators from North and South Korea met for the first time since disarmament talks collapsed in 2008 when Pyongyang walked out to protest international criticism of a prohibited long-range rocket launch.