Officials from the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held talks Thursday in New York on the prospects of resuming the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue.

The officials discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula when they were attending a two-day academic conference organized by Professor Donald Zagoria of Hunter College.

Participants at the symposium included Ri Gun, director-general of the DPRK Foreign Ministry and negotiator on the nuclear issue, Joseph Detrani, the US State Department's special envoy for the six-way talks, Jim Foster, director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, George D. Schwab, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and officials from South Korea and Japan.

Kissinger said at the end of the meeting that they had a "useful dialogue" which was done "in a friendly spirit with intention to make progress."

He noted that "it depends on DPRK's decision when the six-party talks will be resumed."

Zagoria stressed that he is optimistic about the resumption of the six-party talks, saying both US and DPRK officials had a "good exchange of views."

By June last year, three rounds of the six-party talks, which involved the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, had been held. The talks have since then been stalled as the DPRK accused the United States of adopting a hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

To revive the talks, officials from the United States and the DPRK held negotiations last November, December and this May respectively.

Source: Xinhua