The U.S. government has officially announced that it will hold bilateral talks with North Korea within the year.

Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told reporters Tuesday that Washington has informed the North that it is preparing to send Ambassador Stephen Bosworth and a small interagency team to Pyongyang.

Asked about an approximate date for the meeting, Crowley said the talks are likely to open sometime between now and the end of the year.

He added that Bosworth’s discussions in Pyongyang will take place in the context of the six-way nuclear talks.

He also said the purpose of the talks will be to facilitate an early resumption of the six-nation negotiations and to secure North Korea’s reaffirmation of the September 2005 joint statement, including verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

On the outlook of the upcoming talks, Crowley said the U.S. is not going to predict what North Korea is going to do, but is ready to talk to the North in the context of the six-party process to see if Pyongyang is willing to come back and take the kinds of steps to which it previously agreed.