North Korea has invited U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit Pyongyang, Yonhap News Agency reported citing a Japanese newspaper.

North Korea"s top nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan delivered the invitation in a meeting with his American counterpart Christopher Hill in Beijing last month, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.


Hill gave no immediate answer, it added.


Quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, the newspaper interpreted the North"s move as aiming to use a visit by Rice as a stepping-stone to improve ties with Washington.