Eleven years after the collapse of the previous dialogue, North Korea has agreed to re-open bilateral talks with the EU to discuss its human rights situation.

The decision was triggered by last month’s high-level visit to the EU by Kang Sok Ju, International Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party and former chief negotiator at the Six-Party Talks. Kang visited the EU’s External Action Service in Brussels, Belgium, along with Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then stopping off in Mongolia on the way back to Pyongyang.

Kang offered the human rights talks while in Brussels during a meeting with Stavros Lambrinidis,