Blog：Warmer ties?
The thaw between North Korea and the outside world began when former US President Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang to secure the release of two US journalists detained for alleged illegal entry.
It was furthered by the North’s expression of grief at the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the man credited with the sunshine policy of rapprochement.
When North Korea sent a delegation of senior envoys to his funeral, those envoys also spoke with current South Korean leaders.
But there is still no movement on deadlocked international talks on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The North remains insistent that it wants bilateral talks with the United States and that the six-party talks involving both Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan are dead.
