North Korea is reportedly ready to talk nuclear weapons with the U.S. again

North Korea and U.S.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images)

And we're back.

North Korean state media said Pyongyang and Washington are set to revive denuclearization talks with a preliminary meeting Friday followed by official negotiations Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reports. Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman, confirmed Tuesday that U.S. and North Korean officials "plan to meet within the next week" to continue the stalled negotiations. Ortagus did not share any further details about the meeting.

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The timing may have something to do with the exit of Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who was more hawkish than the president when it came to dealing with Kim. North Korea reportedly considered Bolton a "nasty troublemaker," and officials were pleased when Trump forced him out of the White House. Bolton warned as recently as Monday that the Trump administration shouldn't trust Pyongyang, though there's not much he can do about it now. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.