U.S. National Security Council Asian affairs director Daniel Russel says the recent meeting between the two Koreas’ top nuclear envoys is a “good thing.”

During a press briefing Wednesday organized by the Foreign Press Center in New York, Russel said progress in inter-Korean relations is crucial to making progress on larger Korean Peninsula issues, including the especially important issue of realizing North Korea's commitments to denuclearize.

Russel added that the United States believes “that real negotiations are necessary to implement both the U.N Security Council resolutions on North Korea's obligations and a 2005 joint statement.”

He said the U.S., South Korea and Japan are waiting for the North to express willingness to take part in “real negotiations.”