US flexible on DPRK talks, praises China's role

Less than two weeks after the Iran nuclear deal, the US is expressing willingness to show more flexibility in resuming talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) under the Six-Party Talks framework.

The Six-Party Talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, which involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, have been suspended since 2009.

Sydney Seiler, the US special envoy for the Six-Party Talks, said that the recent progress in denuclearizing Iran provides "an excellent example" of the US flexibility and willingness to engage with countries with which the US has had long-standing differences.

"We remain committed to dialogue and negotiated settlement to this issue," Seiler said. "And that the door is open to the DPRK when their leadership makes the decision that it wants to break out of its diplomatic isolation, it wants to break out of its economic isolation, and take a path different to what they have until now," he said on Monday in Seoul, Republic of Korea(ROK), his first stop on a three-nation tour that also includes China and Japan.

Seiler would not speak to the possibilities for any contacts with DPRK, such as on the sidelines of next month's ASEAN Regional Forum in Malaysia.

"Unfortunately we are in this protracted period where the DPRK has been reluctant to engage in dialogue with us," he said. "I know that's been equally frustrating for the Republic of Korea, as you've worked so hard to try to get inter-Korean dialogue going. It's been frustrating for the other Six Party Talks members, who sought to bring the DPRK back to meaningful negotiations."

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the Iran deal as setting a good example for solving other global and regional hot-spot issues, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Seiler will visit Beijing on Tuesday for a meeting with senior Chinese government officials, including his counterpart Xiao Qian, the new Chinese deputy representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs.