U.S. Says N. Korea Talks Still On

After a day of trying to interpret confusing signals from Pyongyang, U.S. officials were forging ahead Saturday with plans to take part in security talks with the North Koreans and Chinese in Beijing this week, a senior administration official said.

The meeting was thrown into doubt Friday when Pyongyang issued a statement that seemed to indicate it had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, a step that could enable it to build half a dozen nuclear bombs within the next six months. The United States has warned Pyongyang not to extract the fissile material, and it would be unwilling to negotiate if that step had been taken.

But later Friday, a CIA translation of the remarks suggested that North Korea was indicating it was prepared to begin reprocessing but had not yet done so. On Saturday, the administration official said that, “having looked at everything that came out yesterday, we still expect the meeting to go forward.”

U.S. intelligence has also not indicated that the North Koreans have been extracting plutonium from the rods, although experts say that intelligence may not be definitive.

The White House has declined to comment on the proposed talks.