DPRK chief negotiator Kim Kye-gwan is in New York Sunday to attend normalization talks with the U.S..(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    WASHINGTON, March 5 (Xinhua)-- Talks between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on normalizing relations start Monday, the first of their kind since the 1950-1953 Korean war.

    U.S. chief negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, and his DPRK counterpart Kim Kye-gwan are due to begin their meetings with a dinner Monday night at a New York hotel and will then hold full talks on Tuesday, U.S. officials said.

    The long-expected bilateral talks follow the latest six-party talks, involving China, the DPRK, the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Russia, which ended in Beijing on Feb. 13, 2007, with a joint statement on the first step toward the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

    According to the document, the DPRK will shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility, including the reprocessing facility, and invite back International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel to conduct all necessary monitoring and verifications.

    In addition, the parties also agreed to give emergency energy assistance to the DPRK in the initial phase, providing Pyongyang with 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil within 60 days in return for shutting down the reactor.

    The normalization talks between the U.S. and the DPRK occur at a time when IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is preparing to visit Pyongyang on March 13 to discuss how to monitor its promised dismantling of nuclear facilities.

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    Spokesman: U.S.-DPRK talks focuses on building up trust

    WASHINGTON, Mar. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Monday played down expectations of any breakthrough in coming normalization talks between Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and his counterpart Kim Kye-gwan of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    "I would expect that it ... would take some time in order for that process to be completed," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

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    IAEA chief sees chance to normalize ties with DPRK

    VIENNA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The chief of the United Nations atomic watchdog said here on Monday that the Beijing agreement offers the agency the chance to normalize relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    "I welcome the Beijing agreement, and the invitation to visit North Korea, as positive steps toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and towards the normalization of North Korea's relationship with the agency," Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in opening remarks to a gathering of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors.