No breakthroughs on North Korea nukes

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Ri as saying after the New York meeting that “I had a useful dialogue,” and that he had met with Kim at the request of the U.S. government. He did not comment on other details of his visit.

North Korea has issued an invitation to the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, Stephen Bosworth, to come to Pyongyang in late November.

But on Thursday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters “the U.S. has made no decision for Ambassador Bosworth to accept the invitation of North Korea to have bilateral talks.”

The president of the Korea Society, Evans Revere, confirmed that he had raised the question of a Bosworth visit with Ri Gun privately on Friday.

Revere said that a visit from Bosworth “would be a very appropriate thing” if North Korea took steps to resume dismantling its nuclear weapons program to international inspection and returned to the six-way talks.

Lord was asked whether he had heard anything new from the North Koreans that would lead to a breakthrough, and replied, 'If we did, we wouldn't tell you.'”

“I don't want to suggest any breakthroughs,” Lord added.

The atmosphere sounded similar to the summation of the two-day meeting in San Diego.

Susan Shirk, a University of California-San Diego professor and founder of the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, said Tuesday after the San Diego talks ended, “I don't see any major breakthroughs.”

The think tank meetings were also co-sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and The Korea Society.

North Korea and the United States do not have diplomatic relations, so dialogue between them often takes place unofficially at think tank meetings, and through the North Korean U.N. Mission in New York.

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