The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States have agreed to hold working-level talks on October 5, DPRK news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
The two countries agreed to have preliminary contact on October 4, followed by the working-level talks, the agency said, citing a statement issued under the name of Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.
"The delegates of the DPRK side are ready to enter into the DPRK-U.S. working-level negotiations," Choe said. "It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations."
"We welcome the agreement between North Korea (DPRK) and the United States to proceed with working-level negotiations on Oct. 5," the ROK presidential Blue House said in a statement.
"Through this working-level negotiation, we hope that substantial progress will be made at an early date to achieve complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula."
The United States confirmed Tuesday that it will resume nuclear talks with the DPRK in a matter of days. "I can confirm that U.S. and DPRK officials plan to meet within the next week," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. She said she had no further details on the meeting.
The DPRK said this month it was willing to restart talks in late September but Washington needed to adopt a fresh approach. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that meetings in September were not possible, though he added that Washington is ready to meet and believes it is important.
Kim Song, chair of the DPRK delegation, addresses the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, Monday, September 30, 2019. /AP Photo
In a speech at the UN General Assembly, Pyongyang's U.N. ambassador Kim Song said it was time for Washington to share proposals for talks.
"Assuming that the U.S. has had enough time to find out a calculation method that can be shared with us, we expressed our willingness to sit with the U.S. for comprehensive discussion of the issues we have deliberated so far."
Trump made only a brief reference to the DPRK during his speech to the UN General Assembly last week, telling the 193-member world body that he had pursued "bold diplomacy" with the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.
"I have told Kim Jong Un what I truly believe: that, like Iran, his country is full of tremendous untapped potential, but that to realize that promise, North Korea (DPRK) must denuclearize," Trump said.
(With input from Reuters)