First Obama envoy to visit North Korea

The new US administration will send its first mission to North Korea to jumpstart denuclearization talks, officials confirmed Tuesday, although an exact date has not yet been set.

"After careful consideration and extensive consultation among our allies and partners, we have told North Korea that we are prepared for Ambassador Bosworth and a small interagency team to visit Pyongyang at an appropriate time not yet determined," State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said.

North Korea has invited special envoy Stephen Bosworth to visit for talks to end what it calls Washington's "hostile" policy toward the communist state.

Pyongyang has unleashed a string of actions this year that infuriated Obama's administration, including testing a nuclear bomb and test-firing a missile over Japan, a close Washington ally.

But the administration of President Barack Obama has said it is willing to sit down with North Korea if such a meeting is considered part of the six-nation talks that led to the 2005 and 2007 agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

"Ambassador Bosworth's discussions in Pyongyang will take place in the context of the six-party talks," Crowley confirmed Tuesday.

"From our standpoint, the purpose will be to facilitate an early resumption of the six-party talks and to secure North Korea's reaffirmation of the September 2005 joint statement of the six-party talks including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner."

Confirmation of the visit came amid heightened regional tensions after a North Korean patrol boat was set ablaze in an exchange of fire with South Korea's navy on Tuesday.

The two sides blamed each other for the clash, the first for seven years, near the disputed Yellow Sea border as the White House warned against any actions that could be seen as an "escalation" of the cross-border tensions.

Some analysts said Pyongyang may be sending Obama a message as he prepared to leave Thursday for a tour of Asia, which includes a visit to South Korea on November 18.

While the Obama administration has sought dialogue with US adversaries from Iran to Cuba, its response to North Korea has been largely comprised of punishment, including a tightening of sanctions led by the United Nations.

The administration has flatly ruled out recognition of North Korea as a nuclear weapons power -- which many experts believe is leader Kim Jong-Il's ultimate goal amid questions about his health.

The United States has periodically sent envoys in the past to Pyongyang, despite the lack of diplomatic relations, but Bosworth's trip will be the first such mission since Obama took office in January.

Former US president Bill Clinton visited the North Korean capital in August to help free two journalists, although officials said it was considered a private trip.