US 'prepared to engage' with North Korea in nuclear talks: Envoy

United States is rey to sit down with rth Korea to resume long-awaited working-level nuclear talks, a US envoy said Wednesday.

Nuclear discussions between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since a second summit in Hai in February ended without an agreement over differences on extent of denuclearization and sanctions relief in return. But anticipation for renewed dialogue has been on rise after United States and its security ally South Korea wrapped up ir two-week joint military drill on Tuesday.

"We are prepared to eng as soon as we hear from our counterparts in rth Korea," said Stephen Biegun, US special representative for rth Korea, after his meeting with South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon in Seoul.

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comments come amid speculation that Americans could meet with rth Koreans at demilitarized zone dividing rth and South to kick start working-level talks during Biegun's three-day stay in Seoul, which began Tuesday. United States envoy denied media reports he would soon take a diplomatic posting in Russia, saying he remained "focused on making progress" with rth Koreans and "fully committed" to goal of denuclearization in rth.

Pyongyang considers joint military exercise by allies a rehearsal for invasion and has routinely expressed anger at war games. drills are a "grave military provocation" and a "challenge to and mockery of our efforts for peace", rth's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Wednesday in a commentary. piece also said that rth's own "measures for bolstering up military capability for self-defence" are consequently "very just ones", in reference to a slew of missile launches in recent weeks.

It ded drills are an "open disregard and wanton violation" of joint statement opted in first US-rth summit in Singapore last year, in which Donald Trump and rth Korean leer Kim Jong-un agreed to pursue new United States-rth relations for "peace and prosperity". rth Korea last week called South Korean President Moon Jae-in an "impudent guy rare to be found" for hoping to resume inter-Korean talks while continuing military drills with US.

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Washington stations nearly 30,000 troops in South to defend it from its neighbour. Donald Trump tweeted earlier this month rth Korean leer Kim Jong-un expressed his hope in a letter hand-delivered to him for resuming dialogue "as soon as joint US/South Korea joint exercise is over".