NK Shows Interest in Bilateral Talks With US

While reaffirming its stance that it would not return to the six-party talks, North Korea on Saturday expressed its interest of holding bilateral talks with the United States.

"We are not against a dialogue. We are not against any negotiations on issues of common concern," Sin Son-ho, North Korea's U.N. ambassador told reporters in New York, Yonhap reported.

Sin also said the country will not return to the multinational platform of negotiation aimed at discussing how to dissuade the nation's nuclear ambition.

Sin also vowed North Korea will not withdraw from the U.N. membership in its protest against the sanctions the world body imposed on the reclusive nation. "That will never happen," he said.

He added the U.N. 1874 resolution meted out against the nation for its launching a long-range missile and the subsequent nuclear test, was an "unfair" act, only meant to make the nation a common enemy of the global community. "Our stance is that we will never accept this kind of resolution," he said.

Earlier on Thursday in Bangkok, Ri Hung-sik, director-general of the North Korean foreign ministry's international bureau, also said that North Korea "is not opposed to dialogue" with the US.