BEIJING - Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will meet the top US envoy to the DPRK on Thursday, the first dialogue between the two governments since 2009.

According to the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency, Kim has arrived in New York for talks and will meet Stephen Bosworth, special representative for DPRK policy.

He told reporters upon his arrival at John F Kennedy Airport that he believed DPRK-US relations "will improve as now is the time for all countries to reconcile".