Six-Party Talks on North Korean Nuclear Program ‘Dead’ – Pyongyang Envoy

Six-party talks on the North Korea’s nuclear program are dead, a high-level North Korean diplomat on nuclear issues said at a security conference in the Chinese capital Wednesday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, the US, Japanese and South Korean militaries detected two launches of presumably Musudan medium-range ballistic missiles from North Korea’s eastern coast.

"The six-party talks are dead," Choe Son Hui, the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s deputy director for North American affairs and deputy chief nuclear envoy, said at the closed-door forum quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news service’s insider.

Tensions over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs escalated after Pyongyang said on January 6 that it had successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test and put a satellite into orbit on February 7. The moves violated UN Security Council resolutions, and prompted the United Nations as well as the United States to impose sanctions.