S Korea anticipates nuclear talks with DPRK

A spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the government expected to discuss letting U.N. nuclear inspectors back into North Korea. Cho Byung-jae, a spokesman from the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said the government in Seoul was expecting to have c onsultations with the International Atomic Energy Agency soon. "We expect consultations (between North Korea and the IAEA) for the monitoring to take place at an early date," he was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency as saying. The North Korean government walked away from multilateral nuclear talks and called on nuclear inspectors to leave the country in 2009. It conducted a nuclear test that June. Robert King, US special envoy for North Korean rights, had said there was progress on food assistance for the North Koreans in exchange for assurances on its nuclear weapons program. He told reporters in Beijing that he was "satisfied" with the outcome of bilateral talks so far. Six party talks between both Korean governments, China, Japan, Russia and the United States were last conducted in 2008. King's meetings with North Korean officials in Beijing were the first since North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died in December.