Nork Update

Kim Jong-Il may send his diplomats back to the table.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government will return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks if the United States shows "sincerity," the communist state's official news agency said Tuesday.

The announcement — the latest in more than two years of conflicting statements over North Korea's nuclear program — came less than two weeks after Kim flouted Washington and its allies by claiming that it had nuclear weapons and would boycott the talks.

"We will go to the negotiating table anytime if there are mature conditions for the six-party talks thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned in the future," Kim said Tuesday, expressing the hope that the United States would show "trustworthy sincerity," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

In a related story, the pot called the kettle black.