A senior North Korean diplomat¹ has held face-to-face talks with an American counterpart during a rare visit to the United States, officials say.

一位朝鲜高级外交官在罕见的美国之行中与美国外交官进行了面对面交谈。

Ri Gun (centre) has been a senior figure in past nuclear talks

The North Korean, Ri Gun, is the deputy negotiator in stalled talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.

He met the US special envoy² for North Korean nuclear disarmament, Sung Kim, in New York, according to a statement from the US state department.

The US is pushing for talks to resume on North Korea's nuclear programme.

Six nations have been involved in the talks - the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan. Pyongyang pulled out of them in April.

The state department stressed that Mr Ri's visit was on the invitation of "US private organisations".

"During his visit, Ambassador Sung Kim took the opportunity to meet with [Mr Ri] in New York on October 24 to convey our position on denuclearisation and the six-party talks," a statement said.

Earlier this month, North Korea said it was willing to return to multi-party negotiations³ on its nuclear programme, but it has said it wants direct negotiations with the US first.

The US has said it is willing to engage directly with North Korea, but only as part of a return to the six-party forum⁴.

Tensions have risen in recent months after North Korea launched a series of missiles and conducted an underground nuclear test - drawing UN sanctions in response.

The US wants North Korea to recommit（再委托，再犯） to abandoning its nuclear programmes.