North Korea nuclear talks to start

By Jon Herskovitz SEOUL (Reuters) - Five regional powers will hold talks with North Korea from Thursday on ending its atomic weapons plans and verifying an account the secretive state gave in June of its nuclear programmes, a South Korean envoy said on Tuesday. The talks, the first in nine months, come after Washington responded to the declaration by the North of its nuclear assets by starting to take it off a terrorism blacklist. But Washington also called on Pyongyang to answer lingering question on proliferation and uranium enrichment "The official schedule for the top envoys' meeting will start in the afternoon of July 10," South Korean envoy Kim Sook told reporters before heading to Beijing for the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Analysts said North Korea may sign off on an... [read full story]