SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is willing to hold talks
without preconditions on "any" issue, former President Jimmy Carter said at the
end of a trip to Pyongyang to try to defuse tensions on the divided
peninsula.
"Chairman and General Secretary Kim Jong-il said he is willing and the people
of North Korea are willing to negotiate with South Korea or with the United
States or with the six powers on any subject any time and without any
preconditions," Carter told a press conference on Thursday.
Carter and three other former state leaders -- known as The Elders -- met the
North's leaders in Pyongyang during a "private" visit in which they were also
due to discuss the impoverished North's pleas for food aid.
He did not meet with Kim Jong-il in person, but received a note from him. Reuters
