hankyoreh

Officials from the United States and North Korea are likely to convene in Geneva later this month for the second round of talks on normalizing bilateral relations, diplomatic sources here said Sunday.

The two countries held the first round of working-level talks in New York in March this year. If Washington and Pyongyang normalize their ties, it would end over a half-century of animosity dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War when the two countries fought against each other.

North Korea has been on the U.S. State Department list of nations that sponsor terrorism since 1988, and the Trading with the Enemy Act heavily restricts bilateral economic exchanges.

The working group is one of the five groups established under the Feb. 13 agreement between the two Koreas, China, Russia, the U.S. and Japan that maps out the first phase of the North's denuclearization.

In the accord, Pyongyang agreed to disable its nuclear facilities and declare all of its nuclear programs in exchange for 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid and other economic and political benefits.

Working-level talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambition were held in China last week, but the six nations failed to reach an agreement on how to disable the communist nation's nuclear facilities. SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap News)