BEIJING, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Patience will be needed in persuading North Korea to return to denuclearization talks, U.S. special envoy Stephen Bosworth says.
Bosworth, speaking to reporters Saturday in Beijing following his three-day visit to Pyongyang, said the trip was productive but urged patience, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
"This may be a time to exercise a bit of strategic patience," Bosworth said, repeating similar counsel from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The envoy said his talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju were "very useful" and that members of the suspended six-way North Korean denuclearization talks -- the United States, North and South Korea, Russia, Japan and China -- need to "sit still (and) quietly for a bit, and decide where we might go next."
"How and when we resume the six-party talks remains to be resolved," Bosworth said.
Yonhap said Bosworth arrived in Beijing on Friday after North Korea dropped hints it could return to the talks that China hosts.
