North Korea announced on Tuesday it could return to six-party talks on dismantling its nuclear arms programme, depending on the success of prior bilateral negotiations with the US.
If the authoritarian state does return to the six-party framework, it will be a striking volte-face for Kim Jong-il, whose officials pulled out in April and repeatedly vowed never to return. Still, engineering a summit between Mr Kim and the US would secure North Korea a major diplomatic coup.
