North Korea: Ready to resume talks without preconditions

North Korea said on Monday it was ready to resume six-party talks on its controversial nuclear program soon and without preconditions, Xinhua reported citing the North's official KCNA news agency. "The DPRK remains unchanged in its stand to resume the six-party talks without preconditions at an early date," the agency quoted a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman as saying. North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said last Friday he held "positive" talks with U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Bosworth, which could be a "first step" towards more discussions. North Korea and South Korea agreed on July 22 to revive the stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear program. The six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, comprising the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan, came to a halt in April 2009 when North Korea walked out of negotiations to protest the United Nations' condemnation of its missile tests.